Spark a Movie: Titanic
by Sparky Army
Summary: It was supposed to be a maiden voyage for the record books but it had ended in tragedy. John/Elizabeth with a little Ronon/Teyla and Carson/Laura.
1. Chapter 1

**Spark-a-Movie**

There are so many brilliant movies out there that just inspire fan fiction and send plot bunnies into a frenzy. The challenge for this venture is to take a blockbuster movie and turn it into a Sparky fan fiction, using the plot as inspiration and adding our own twists and turns.

_Authors Note (Hannah554): I love Titanic and I couldn't help but take my chance to sparkify it. I've added my own twists to the story but I've also kept some things the same, I hope you enjoy it!_

**Titanic**

By Hannah554

Chapter 1

People rushed by in a blur as he ran through the crowd, dodging and weaving his way passed all the people and shouting back hasty apologies to the people he bumped into. John couldn't remember the port ever being so busy; everyone had turned up whether to wave off their family or just to see the great ship. There was so much excitement in the air as this was a much anticipated maiden voyage - the ship represented promise in more ways that one. It stood in front of them, sitting proudly in the water and dominating everything. The word 'Titanic' there for all to see.

"Hurry up Ronon," he shouted to his friend who was running just behind him - he'd slowed down to apologise to the young man he'd almost knocked down - if they had any hope of being on that ship they had to be faster. He could see the docking ramp ahead of him, the wooden walkway stretching across the water to the lower levels of the ship. John adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder, hoisting it up higher so he could run faster. He almost flew up the walkway just as the crewman was about to close the door. He shouted to him, getting his attention just before the steel doorway closed.

"Do you have a ticket?" the crewman asked quickly, and John showed him both his and Ronon's tickets as the big man came running up the ramp behind him. The crewman nodded, gesturing for them to hurry onboard. John didn't have to be told twice. They didn't bother going to find their rooms, instead they went up to the boat deck, shimmying through the people to get to the railings and wave goodbye to England, to the life they were leaving behind there - they were going home.

The horn of the ship sounded, a deep and almost deafening sound signalling the departure of the ship. It started moving, slowly at first, the ship's engines having to drag the considerable weight of the ship. The noise both on the deck and in the docks below increased, people shouting and cheering. Within minutes Southampton port was behind them, in front of them was a vast ocean and across that was the new life that awaited them.

"We should find our rooms," Ronon said as he watched the land behind them moving away. John nodded his head and turned around once again having to manoeuvre himself through the crowd to get to the door. It didn't take them long to get lost, they wondered up and down identical looking corridors, the numbers on the doors didn't help to guide them, every corridor seemed to make the numbers jump from one place to another. John was sure there should have been some logical order to this.

"Excuse me," he asked the young woman that was walking by them; he'd had enough of this aimless wondering, there were better things to do on this amazing ships that look for his room. "We're kinda lost."

The woman gave them a friendly smile, tucking her light brown hair behind her ear. "That's okay, it took me a while to find my room as well, there seems to be no logic to the corridors."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," he told her, reaching into his pocket for his ticket so he could double check his room number. She took the paper from him and read the number herself, smiling once again.

"This is on the same corridor as my room. Come on, I will show you," she said, and John gave her a grateful nod following her as she headed back the way she had been coming. She started reading the door numbers to herself until she came to theirs. "Twenty seven," she read and the gestured to the door. "Here we are."

"Thanks, I could have spent hours trying to find my way around down here," John replied taking his ticket back.

"That's alright. I'm Teyla, Teyla Emmagan," she introduced herself holding her hand out to him.

"John Sheppard, the silent one is Ronon Dex," he told her taking her offered hand. She made the gesture to Ronon as well and with a moments hesitation he accepted it; he wasn't the easiest guy to get to know but he wasn't impolite either, especially to someone who had just helped them out.

"My room is twenty three," she told them gesturing down the corridor. "Down that way. Feel free to knock if you need anything. I'm sure I'll see you around."

Teyla left then, probably going to wherever she had been heading when she'd run into them. John opened the door and walked into the room that would be their home for the next few days. It was like any other room he'd been in; third class was always the same. Small, cramped, plain, uncomfortable beds with cheap, thin sheets and a rat cowering away in the corner.

"We have a room mate," John stated as he looked at the rat. Ronon scowled at the vermin stamping his foot near it so it ran off.

"I hate rats," he stated gruffly, opening the door so the rat could exit, glaring at it as he left.

"Well it probably hates you now too," John replied dropping his bag on the bottom bunk of the bed. Ronon swung his onto the top bed, the bag half flying through the air before landing on the bed with a thud. John rolled his eyes, "Do you always have to show off?"

* * *

Elizabeth thanked the young steward for his help in bringing her things to her room, declining the maid's offer of helping her unpack. She waited for them to leave before she did the job herself. She preferred to do things herself despite the insistence of certain people that many of the tasks were below her. Her room was beautiful, she couldn't deny that, the decoration and detail in everything was amazing and the lamps that were placed strategically around cast a warm glow over the entire room. It still felt like a prison to her; the Titanic was an amazing vessel but she couldn't see it as anything more than a prison ship transporting her to an entire life of imprisonment.

She opened the first suitcase taking out the dresses and hanging them in the giant wardrobe near her bed. They were fine dresses, all of them designed to make whoever wore them look more beautiful, more elegant. The few suits she had were next, they were travel clothes more than anything else but she couldn't very well leave them in the hotel, as much as some of the horrible garments asked for it.

She was just about to move onto the second case when there was a light knock at the door, the person responsible for it not bothering to wait for her to respond before coming in. The woman that entered managed a half sincere smile, gliding into the room in one of those elegant dresses that made it seem like she was floating around rather than walking. She closed the door behind her, frowning at Elizabeth when she saw her unpacking her own things.

"There is a reason people are employed to do these tasks for us Elizabeth," the woman chastised gently but there was an undertone of exasperation in her voice. This wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation and she doubted it would be the last.

"I prefer to do it myself Mother, if people did everything for me then I'd spend my entire life sitting around doing nothing, it would be incredibly boring," Elizabeth replied, brushing her hair away from her face.

Her mother sighed. Melinda Weir was a proud woman, too proud sometimes but she had become too accustomed to this life. "Elizabeth, sit down," she instructed and after a moment Elizabeth did as she was told perching herself on the edge of the huge bed whilst her mother did the same beside her. "I know things have been difficult recently, losing your father has made life hard for us but that will change after we reach America, after the wedding."

She was really beginning to hate the constant reminders, "I know Mother."

"Simon is a fine man; he will make a good husband for you," her mother continued. "Not to mention secure both our futures."

"I know," Elizabeth repeated.

"Good," Melinda said, standing back up and reaching a hand out to her daughter. Elizabeth took it, standing up beside her mother who smiled more genuinely. "Now, allow the maids to do their job, I feel like taking a walk out on the deck, let's see what this fine ship has to offer us."

She knew arguing would do her no good, it never did, so instead she nodded her head and followed her mother out of the room. She gave the two maids - that her mother sent to unpack her things - a small, grateful smile as they passed her.

* * *

The music from the band filled the room. They weren't provided with any sort of entertainment down in third class so they had made their own. Several of the passengers were struggling musicians, making their money playing on street corners and hoping for the best. Some of them had joined together to make their very own third class band, a job they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying. The rest of the passengers were either dancing or drinking, in some cases both at the same time and those were the ones making a mess of the room. The noise from people talking and laughing almost rivalled the music from the band. Third class might not have much but they knew how to throw a party.

John drank the last of his beer putting the glass down on the table before holding his hand out to Teyla; he'd had enough of sitting still. "Dance with me," he requested and Teyla smiled accepting the offered hand and standing up with him. The music was upbeat, fast and loud and as such the drunks that were attempting to dance were bumping into everyone, including them, so they called it quits after a while and returned to the table where Ronon was trying to out drink a fellow passenger. Teyla sat next to him, grinning as both men put their empty glasses down and another passenger provided them with two more.

Ronon's competition looked a little nauseous, even sat down he was swaying a little from side to side while Ronon just grinned and reached for the next glass. John knew his friend well enough to know that he was completely drunk, but it would be a few more glasses before he'd be out of the contest; the other guy wasn't going to hold out so long. They both managed to empty their glasses and were once again provided with another, but before either man could take them Ronon's competition leaned over to the side of the table and vomited.

Teyla screwed up her face in disgust looking slightly nauseous herself now as she chose to look at Ronon's arm instead of the man still spewing his guts up on the floor. Ronon was declared the winner. The big guy stood up, throwing his arms in the air and cheering for himself. John clapped half heartedly, he'd seen this before, there weren't many people that could out drink Ronon. After several claps on the back Ronon was given one of the two drinks that had been brought for the competition as a celebratory drink and he downed it faster than he ought to have.

Teyla appeared next to John with two drinks handing one over to him. He hadn't even seen her leave the group. She smiled at Ronon who was swaying a little on his feet as he high fived someone - despite how much alcohol he must have had he was still handling himself pretty well.

"I think this is the most lively I have seen him all day," she stated, and John nodded his head.

"He's the brooding type," John shrugged. "He's better once you get to know him and if you get a load of alcohol into him well... I think you can see for yourself."

"I can," Teyla agreed laughing as Ronon attempted to high five another man, one more drunk than him and the two missed each other almost falling over. "Come on, I want to dance," she told him putting her drink down. "I was considering asking Ronon but now I think that might be a bad idea."

"Probably," John replied downing the rest of his drink before following after Teyla. There were times when he wished he could be someone else, someone with the money to do what he wanted, to sleep in a room that didn't have a rat scurrying around on the floor looking for any signs of dropped food. Then there were times like this when he remembered the good side to being third class; there was no pretence down here, nobody pretending to be something they weren't and damn it, they knew how to have a good time.

* * *

The band was playing in the corner, some quiet melody that fit perfectly with the richly decorated room. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling casting light over the reds, beiges and browns the dinning room had been decorated with. The light bounced off the shiny silver cutlery, spots of it dancing across the walls as they were moved. Voices could be heard chattering away in calm, quiet tones, the occasional laugh at someone's joke or story, usually at someone else's expense. Elizabeth feigned a smile as her mother told some story that everyone else seemed to find funny but she was simply bored of.

"Does this chicken have lemon in it? I'm very allergic to lemon, it could seriously kill me," the man sat to her right said. The waiter assured him that there was no lemon in the chicken before walking away and Elizabeth was sure she heard an exasperated sigh coming from him as he passed her chair. Beside her the man continued to stare warily at the chicken. "I'm sure I can smell lemon."

"You always think you can smell lemon Rodney," Elizabeth pointed out, "It's rarely actually there."

"That's not true, a few months ago there was lemon on the chicken I ordered at the restaurant despite their insistence there wasn't. If I hadn't made such a fuss about it I could have died that day," Rodney reminded her. He exaggerated that story more and more every time he told it, she was sure it was going to become a story about an epic battle one day.

"How's your work coming?" she asked him, cutting him off before he could start to retell his tale once again. "You were working on something, you were excited about it."

"Ah yes, the new engine design," Rodney stated making Elizabeth sigh. She knew he was going to start an explanation of his work and the genius behind it, but it was better than listening to the restaurant story again. "Well, it's coming along very well, there are a few adjustments to be made before we're able to construct and test a prototype but I have a lot of confidence in the basic design."

"That's fascinating Rodney, really," a blonde sitting opposite him at the table said sarcastically, "but I don't think Elizabeth is actually interested in the specifics of it."

"I doubt she would have asked about it if she weren't interested and besides Laura, I don't remember you being invited into this conversation," Rodney pointed out as he decided his dinner was safe to eat and shoved a fork full of chicken into his mouth.

"I'm sitting at the table Rodney, that invites me into any conversation being held at it," Laura replied as though she was talking to an idiot and not a genius. Beside Laura her husband turned his attention from the conversation he'd been having with someone else to intercede in the latest fight between Rodney and Laura, preferably before it could turn into a fight - these two were exceptional at creating a scene that many of the people here would find unbecoming of first class passengers.

"Laura love," Carson began cutting of Rodney's retort, whatever it had been. "Why don't you tell them what we discovered about the lifeboats today?" he suggested and Laura looked at him for a moment before nodding in realisation.

"Oh yeah, that. There aren't enough life boats for everyone on board, probably only half," she told them, her argument with Rodney already forgotten.

"That concerns you?" a man sitting a little further down the table questioned. Jeremiah usually kept himself to himself but when he did speak he sounded like one of the most pompous people she had ever met. He was on the Titanic with both his wife and his mistress. The wife, Teresa, was completely unaware of the affair her husband was having. Maria was a family friend, someone Teresa had known since childhood and that was probably where Teresa thought her involvement with the family ended. The two women were sat next to each other at the table enjoying a friendly conversation. "This ship has been built to withstand whatever might be thrown at it out here, it is almost unsinkable. The life boats are on board simply because it is regulation; they are nothing more than clutter on the deck."

"Almost being exactly the point," Laura replied.

Jeremiah rolled his eyes. "I have no patience for you people with a doom and gloom view of the world."

"And I have no patience for..." Laura's comment was cut short by Carson's hand over her mouth for which Elizabeth was relieved, she was sure that most of the people at the table wouldn't appreciate Laura's more colourful personality.

"Elizabeth, you haven't touched your food," the man on her left pointed out and she turned to him with a smile that she hoped didn't look as forced as it felt. Simon looked from her plate to her; it wasn't so much concern on his face as mere questioning.

"I just don't have much of an appetite today, I haven't quite got my sea legs yet," she told him knowing he'd buy the sea sickness excuse. Her mother had spent the first hour of their time on the ship looking pale and nauseous; it wasn't a stretch to say that Elizabeth would have it as well.

"I'm sure you'll feel better after a good night's sleep." he stated taking her hand in his and running his thumb over the engagement ring he'd placed there a month ago. He studied it proudly; the diamond was big enough to stand out but not so big that it got in her way, unlike the one Jeremiah's wife was wearing which even after wearing it for seven years she still knocked about.

* * *

John almost lost his footing when Ronon lost his, most of the man's weight coming down on him and if it hadn't been for Teyla on the other side of the big guy he might have actually fallen. Between the two of them they were dragging his drunken ass down the corridor toward their room. Ronon was mumbling something to himself but John couldn't even have guessed at what it was. It hadn't taken long after the drinking competition for the alcohol to hit Ronon and even then he hadn't been ready to call an end to the night. Now, it was the middle of the night and John and Teyla were dragging him through the ship. He was probably going to pass out as soon as he hit the bed and he'd have one hell of a hang over in the morning.

"I can't believe how much he drank," Teyla stated, her voice showing the strain she was under, and John took more of Ronon's weight.

"We did try to tell him," John replied. "Which means we get mocking rights tomorrow."

"Good point," Teyla said as they finally reached the room, she let go of Ronon and opened the door stepping to the side so John could bring Ronon in. He dropped him on the bottom bunk even though Ronon had claimed top, there was no way he was going to get him up there even with Teyla's help.

"Alright, I'm going to my own room now," Teyla told him tiredly. "I will see you in the morning; don't use up all the mocking before I get the chance to join in."

"I'll make sure I save some for you," John said and Teyla nodded, smiling as she glanced at Ronon's half unconscious form and then left.

"She's pretty," Ronon mumbled and John rolled his eyes, trying and failing not to laugh.

"Yes she is," John replied. "And nice too, you might try being more sociable tomorrow."

"We're gonna be in America in a few days," Ronon said randomly changing subject. "Things will be better there."

"Let's hope so," John stated, it was the whole reason they were on this ship. To John America was home. He'd been born there, he'd spent the first few years of his life there until his parents had moved to England in the hopes of starting again. It hadn't worked out and they'd both died still trying to make it. His mother had gotten sick and died when John had still been a kid. John's father had tried moving again, they'd been to France for a while as well as a few other places that they hadn't stayed in long enough for John to remember them. They'd come back to England only for his father to be killed in a work accident as he tried to earn some money at a construction site.

Ronon snored, a sure sign that the big guy had fallen asleep and that John was going to get very little of it. John had known him since he and his father had moved back to England, when he had been just ten years old. Ronon was an orphan. He didn't even have any memory of his parents and he'd spent most of his younger years sneaking out of the orphanage. John's father had half taken him in, he and John spent their days causing trouble while his father worked whatever job he could get at the time.

He had no problem with his roots, his past had made him who he was and even though there were times when he thought it would be nice to have more than a few pence or dollars or whatever currency he was living in, he had no problem with his life. He accepted that he was third class; he made the best of everyday. The Titanic was carrying him to his knew life; hopefully America would have some adventures for him.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note (Hannah554): Sorry about the evilly long wait for this chapter. I don't even have a good excuse since I finished writing this story before I started posting it. Feel free to hurl objects at me, soft ones only please lol. **

Chapter 2

The moaning and groaning had been funny for the first couple of hours but it was starting to wear thin now. John and Teyla had gotten more than their fair share of mocking in and they'd run out of jokes and retorts to throw at him though the scowl he gave them whenever they came up with another one was still mildly amusing. They'd come up to the third class deck so Ronon could get some air and let him walk off his mood, he wasn't good at sitting still at the best of times.

"Never again," he groaned as he finally sat down on one of the benches near the railing. "I'm never drinking again."

"That's what you said the last time you ended up like this and the time before that," John told him, his face thoughtful. "And the time before that... and the..."

"I get it," Ronon snapped and then threw his head back with a groan "But I really do mean it this time."

"You said that last time too," John pointed out. "And the time before that and... do I really have to go through it again?"

Ronon lifted his head long enough to glare at John before dropping it back again. Teyla sat on the bench next to him, a compassionate look on her face now having replaced the amused one she'd had since last night. "Perhaps we should stop picking on him now."

"That would be appreciated," Ronon muttered without lifting his head. It was at that moment that John saw the guy Ronon had been up against in his drinking competition last night. He had his head over the side of the ship; there were no prizes for guessing why his head was over there. Three of his friends were with him, two of them enjoying mocking him as much as John and Teyla had been enjoying mocking Ronon earlier. The other one, a young woman, was rubbing his back soothingly trying to tell the others to shut up.

"Well, at least that guy looks worse off than you," John said and Ronon lifted his head once more glancing over to where John was looking.

"Light weight," Ronon grunted and John resisted the urge to point out that he and Teyla had been forced to drag his butt back to his room last night.

"Well if you feel up to it, I'm starving," John said and Ronon looked at him slightly more nauseous but nodded his head anyway.

* * *

Elizabeth sat back in her seat knowing that it was going to earn her a lecture about slouching but deciding it was worth it. She'd been sat at the breakfast table listening to her mother and two of her friends discussing wedding details for the best part of an hour. Talk of pink flowers and diamond studded dresses had all become nothing but a blur to her now. She was sure she was supposed to be excited about her own wedding, she was supposed to be planning visits to dress fitters, florists and caterers, she wasn't supposed to switch off as soon as it was mentioned.

"How about lilacs, I do love lilacs," her mother's friend suggested, Ilene was never one to keep her opinions to herself, if she thought something she generally said it. Sometimes the honesty in it was a nice change from all the lies and secrets people kept, mostly it was just annoying though.

"I don't know, pink roses are much more to my taste," her mother replied.

"I agree with Melinda," the second of her mother's friends stated.

"Perhaps you should ask Elizabeth, it's her wedding after all," Laura cut in and smirked to herself when the three women looked at her stunned for a moment. Melinda finally turned to her daughter, a placating expression on her face, she'd been enjoying planning the wedding, she was a woman who liked to have control of things and this wedding was proving to be one of them.

"Elizabeth, what would you like?" Melinda questioned.

Elizabeth glared at Laura; she hadn't wanted to be involved in the conversation at least not that morning, at that moment she didn't care what flowers were on the tables at the wedding reception. "Pink roses," she said knowing that if she disagreed with her mother she'd spend the next few days listening to her mother's reasons for having pink roses there.

"Good," her mother said as she noticed something across the room behind Elizabeth "And here is the groom to be, perhaps you have an opinion as well."

"An opinion on what?" Simon questioned as he and his friend approached the table. Bernard looked much the same as Simon, they both had dark hair and similar builds, they wore similar expensive suits and walked with the same 'we own the world' demeanour.

"Floral arrangements," Melinda replied with a smile that Simon returned.

"I must admit my vast array of knowledge doesn't extend that far, Mrs Weir," he told her, always the smooth talker when other people were around, especially his future mother in law. "I think I shall leave floral arrangements and any other wedding details in your capable hands, whatever you decide is fine by me and please remember," he continued with a glance at Elizabeth "Money is no object."

"I'll bear that in mind," Melinda said with another smile as she returned to the wedding discussion.

"Elizabeth," Simon greeted her dropping a kiss on her cheek and taking the chair beside her. "So how much of my money is your mother planning to spend on this joyous day?"

"No more than you can afford, I assure," Elizabeth told him though that wasn't saying much, this was a man who could buy America if it was for sale and still have enough money left over to do it a few more times, even then there'd be plenty more.

"Like I said, money is no object," he repeated and she forced a smile, nodding her head and taking a sip of wine to avoid turning around and glaring at Laura who was sending her the usual knowing look. She was tired of this, they'd only been on the ship for a day and already she was feeling suffocated, there was no where to go, no space.

* * *

She knew it was probably a bad idea but it was the only one she had and if she didn't do it she was gonna go crazy. Simon and her mother were looking for her, she'd made an excuse to miss lunch, told them she was still feeling a little ill but she was pretty sure they hadn't believed her. Anywhere she went in first class she was bound to either be found by them or spotted by someone who would tell them. This was the best way to guarantee they didn't find her until she was ready to be found, it would just be a few minutes then she'd come back.

Elizabeth cast a glance around and then headed down the stairs to the third class deck. There weren't that many people around, they were probably having their own meal or hiding from the cold. She'd be fine down here for a little while and at the very least she wouldn't have to worry about her mother or Simon finding her. Looking at the green dress she was wearing with all its expensive trimmings she knew she stood out here, she'd just have to make this a short walk.

She passed a couple who were standing by the railings looking out at the water. They were probably about the same age as she was, their clothes were simple and looking at them you'd know they didn't have much but that didn't seem to bother them. They were laughing as the man pretended he was going to chuck the woman over board. She glanced back after she'd passed them just to be sure that he hadn't actually thrown her over. There was a group of kids playing a little further down the deck, two mothers watching them and occasionally shouting something or other. She kept walking keeping her head low as she passed them too and once she'd put some distance between her and them she looked up at the deck she should have been on. Anyone up there would be able to see her if they came close to the edge so she moved further along until she came to a quiet area hidden from view of the upper deck and she stopped by the railing to look out at the ocean.

"A little lost aren't you?" a male voice questioned from behind her and Elizabeth tensed hesitating before turning around and meeting the eyes of the man standing a few feet from her. He was probably about her age, dark hair sticking out in random directions and clothes that told her he was third class. If she was going to be caught down here by someone she was glad it wasn't another first class passenger, Simon and her mother would kill her.

"Why would you say that?" she questioned glad her voice was still working despite the fright he'd given her, she hadn't even heard him approach. He looked at the dress she was wearing, at her hair tied back from her face and the necklace that hung from her neck.

"Well somehow I doubt you're steerage and first class passengers tend to stay up there," he said gesturing to the upper deck and she stood up straighter trying to stare him down, it didn't seem to work.

"What business is it of yours what I'm doing here?" she asked him in annoyance and he shrugged.

"Guess it's not," he replied but didn't make any move to leave.

"Is there something else I can do for you?" she questioned and he shook his head. "Then why are you still here?"

"This happens to be my deck, I have every right to be here and I'm still curious as to why a first class passenger would choose to come down here, unless you really are just lost," he replied and after several uncomfortable seconds of silence she gave herself a mental shake.

"Listen Mr... whoever you are, what I'm doing here is none of your business and you have no right asking me these questions so why don't you go back to whatever it is you were doing and leave me alone," she told him and then walked away heading for the nearby stairs to the upper deck. She could feel his eyes on her the entire way but didn't look back as she disappeared from his view. It really had been a bad idea to go down there; she'd known that when she'd done it and she'd been a fool to do it anyway. She headed back to her room, Simon and her mother would find her there easily but she'd had the only respite she was going to get on this journey and she regretted taking it now.

She should not have gone down there.

* * *

"What was she even doing down here?" Ronon questioned. "Those people don't have enough room up there they gotta come down here now too, and there was me thinking we were beneath them," Ronon stated rather touchily. He'd not had many run ins with the rich and fortunate of society but those he had been unlucky enough to have had not been pleasant experiences.

"Technically we are," Teyla replied humorously glancing up at the ceiling which was actually the floor to the people on the next deck up.

"Funny," Ronon said after a moment of staring at her in annoyance and Teyla shrugged.

"Well, like she so eloquently put, it's none of my business, or yours," John told them, he'd only mentioned his run in with the first class passenger in the middle of a conversation and it had ended up with a life of it's own.

"It sounds like she was just rude anyway," Ronon said pulling a chocolate bar out of his pocket and stuffing the contents in his mouth.

"To be honest I think I scared her, I don't think she planned to get caught," John replied thinking back to the encounter. She'd acted just like many of the snobs he'd come across in his life, she'd talked down to him in the same way they all had but she'd seemed pretty jittery as well. The more he thought about it the more the whole thing didn't make sense, why the hell would a first class passenger come down to their part of the deck when theirs was so much better, cleaner too? He'd probably never know, in fact he'd probably never see that woman again so he shook the questions out of his head.

"Still, she could have be nicer about it," Ronon said as he screwed up the wrapper from his chocolate and tossed it at a rat that was sniffing around nearby. The paper missed it by millimetres but it succeeded in scaring the rat away. Teyla hit Ronon's arm, a look of scolding on her face as she turned to him.

"Litter bugs like you are part of the reason we have rats in the first place, go pick it up," she chastised him, Ronon glared at her for a moment but much to John's surprise the big guy actually went and did as he was told. He stalked down the corridor, picking the wrapper up from the floor and stuffing it into his pocket.

"Happy now?" he questioned as he rejoined them.

"Very," Teyla replied cocking her head to the side and smiling sweetly, Ronon it seemed couldn't hold back the glare he was directing her way and huffed as he turned to walk away. Teyla followed after him and John smiled to himself in amusement before running after them. "Are you coming again tonight?" Teyla asked them.

"You know, I love that about this ship, every night is a party," John said.

"It's not a party, we just get together and make the most of our accommodations," Teyla corrected him and John raised an eyebrow at her.

"I call that a party," he told her "But yes, we're coming, providing Ronon can control his alcohol intake."

"Had to bring that up, didn't you?" Ronon questioned with a glare, the headache he'd woken up with that morning hadn't gone completely. John didn't feel a huge amount of sympathy for him; it was completely self inflicted after all.

* * *

Laura walked along the deck her arm linked with Carson as she tried her best to ignore Rodney's rambling. She loved the man, he had been a good friend to her since she'd met Carson but there were moments when she just wanted to strangle him, a lot of moments. He was currently going on about some of his latest work, working for the government meant that he was almost always working on something interesting – at least to him – but it also meant he couldn't talk about it. That meant that whenever he could share the details of his genius with them he took every chance he got.

Sometimes she would just let him ramble on, humming or nodding in what seemed like the right places so he'd think she was soaking up every detail. It made up for the times where she told him to shut up or she was going to stick a lemon down his throat. It was probably unfair to use lemons against him so much, after all his fear came from his severe allergy to them but it was the one thing that was guaranteed to shut him up.

In front of her Elizabeth was walking with Simon, her arm was linked with his much like Laura and Carson but it wasn't out of affection. Melinda Weir was walking on the other side of Simon, dressed in another one of her amazingly elegant dresses; the woman was never seen not looking like she was worth a few million dollars. Laura had known Elizabeth since childhood; they'd basically been raised together and even as a five year old Laura hadn't liked Melinda. The woman had always been all about image, whenever Laura had been at Elizabeth's with her parents she was constantly being told to sit up straight or chastised for not speaking properly. Her own parents had been a little more lax, Laura had gotten away with a lot of stuff that Elizabeth would have been punished for.

Elizabeth's father, Nicolas Weir had been another story though, he'd been a genuinely nice man and Laura put it down to him that Elizabeth had turned out the way she had. Nicolas had always had more influence over Elizabeth than Melinda and as such Elizabeth wasn't all about money and image, she was a good person.

Tagging along behind the group was Kavanaugh; he was one of Simon's employees though Laura wasn't exactly sure what his job was supposed to be. All she knew was that Simon used him as a spy; the man was constantly following people about to keep an eye on them. One of those people was Elizabeth, they'd caught the pathetic little man following her a few times, reporting back to Simon everything Elizabeth had done, anything he might not approve of. They'd gone shopping together about three weeks ago and a man they'd run into had taken a liking to Elizabeth. She'd shown no return of the interest but that hadn't stopped the man from flirting with her while he'd had the chance. Simon had known about it before the two of them had returned to the hotel and Elizabeth had gotten an earful about it.

Melinda had to side step a lifeboat, sighing in irritation at it and Laura rolled her eyes. There was more than enough room on the deck; it was her own fault that she had chosen to walk right next to the boats. "These things really do clutter up the deck," she said in exasperation.

"They're a necessary evil though," Laura pointed out with a hint of sarcasm that as always was ignored.

"Hardly," Simon half scoffed. "This ship is designed not to sink; it's a waste of space."

It amazed Laura that people could be so complacent, these things were aboard to save lives. "No ship is unsinkable. If you ask me it's irresponsible that they don't have enough aboard for all the passengers."

"So they can clutter the deck even more?" Simon questioned with his own sarcasm and Laura glared at his back as they continued along the deck. She'd never liked Simon either, in fact she liked him less than she liked Melinda. She didn't know how Elizabeth put up with him, he wasn't the great man, the Gentleman he liked to pretend he was and Laura had no problem seeing though the face he put on for everyone. She'd known the day she met him, months ago when Melinda had been setting Elizabeth up for a marriage that would secure their futures that he was not a good man. "This ship is unsinkable, the lifeboats are useless."

Laura saw the officer she'd been speaking to yesterday, it had been him she'd asked about the lifeboats when she noticed there didn't seem to be as many of them as she would have thought. She'd been bickering with Rodney about it when he'd walked passed and she's dragged him into it, now she was going to do it to him again.

"Officer Lorne," she called out and he turned to her, recognising her from before and walking over to the small group.

"Good afternoon, Ladies, Gentleman," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"The same thing you did yesterday, please tell this... person," she said gesturing to Simon and almost failing to find a word that wouldn't insult him. "That no ship is unsinkable, if part of the ship were to... I don't know... explode; we'd still sink despite the very clever design that went into it."

"That's true," he said but she could tell from the diplomatic voice he was using that more was coming. "However I can assure you that the 'very clever design' will keep the ship afloat through most incidents and it's very unlikely that part of the ship will spontaneously explode."

"I'm sure that's the case but if there were to be an incident that the ship couldn't handle and we already know there aren't enough lifeboats for everyone on board, what would happen to the people not fortunate enough to get onto one of the boats?" she questioned knowing this would win the argument for her.

"They'd go down with the ship," Lorne stated and she smiled cockily at Simon.

"So, lifeboats are a necessary evil even if they do clutter your deck," she finished and then thanked Lorne before moving along with Carson and Rodney. She was sure she saw Elizabeth smile but Simon looked at her and she quickly hid it again. She really didn't like that man.

* * *

Elizabeth sat down at her dresser tracing the tips of her fingers over the ornate carvings of the wood. She looked at her reflection in the mirror; it was like she didn't even know the woman staring back at her, the image felt foreign to her. She reached up and started pulling the pins out of her hair letting the brown curls fall wherever they wanted to. She was very tired, her reflection showed that much at least, and even though it was still fairly early she just wanted to curl up in her bed and sleep. Nobody suspected that she had been to the third class deck, she'd felt so stupid when she'd come back to her own part of the ship, it had been ridiculous to go down there.

With all the pins safely in the crystal dish she picked up her hairbrush, running it through her hair time and time again, way more than she needed to. It wasn't until she heard a knock at the door that she stopped, placing the brush back on the dresser and closing her eyes to push back the torrent of emotions she had allowed to leak out while she was alone. She knew it wasn't her mother outside the door, she hardly knocked and never waited, just walked in, that left very few people.

The door opened slightly, a head peaking through as if to make sure it was proper for them to come in, Simon was always proper, at least he acted as though he was. He saw her sitting by her dresser and brought the rest of himself into the room, closing the door behind him and walking over to her.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her and it took her a moment to remember that she'd used feeling unwell as an excuse to miss dinner again, that wasn't going to keep saving her.

"Better now, I think I just need a good night's sleep," she told him hoping he'd take it upon himself to leave and let her get that sleep but since she was sure he didn't believe her anyway, he didn't leave.

"That's good to hear," he replied and Elizabeth stopped looking at him through the mirror and turned around, standing up so she could look at him properly. "Your mother is still making plans for the wedding; I've been debating whether or not to point out that the wedding isn't for another month."

"Best to just leave her to it," Elizabeth told him and Simon half smiled and nodded.

"You're probably right," he said and then fell silent for a moment, studying her, judging her. "I know things have been hard for you recently. Your father died less than a year ago and I know you've never truly gotten over that," Simon began and Elizabeth stiffened. This was stepping into far too personal territory; it felt like he had no right to say these things. He had never even met her father, she hadn't known him back then, it had been a month later that she'd met him. "But I want you to know that both you and your mother will be taken care of, I think I've proven that much. I am the man in your life now."

Elizabeth kept her instinctive response to that to herself; instead she just nodded her head looking down at the carpet.

"The wedding is a month away Elizabeth, it's time you started showing some interest in it," he added and then stood up to leave. He dropped a kiss on her cheek and walked out of the room, Elizabeth just stood there as he left; her eyes fixed on the floor until she heard the door shut. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before reaching for her night dress.

* * *

She loved the early morning on this ship, almost everyone barring some of the crew and a few other early birds were asleep in their rooms. It was calm and quiet, she liked that, there were moments in the day where she craved that but knew she would have to wait until the next morning to get it. Elizabeth stood on the deck, her arms resting on the railing in front of her and her eyes fixed on the sunrise over the ocean. The sky was a mixture of pink and orange with blue starting to creep in and all of it reflecting off the water.

Simon had made a good point last night; he'd taken care of her and her mother since the start of the engagement. He was vaguely aware of the financial situation her father's death had left them in though she was pretty sure he didn't know the extent of it. She knew most of the way he acted around other people, even her, was just a facade, she'd seen more of the real side of him than she cared for but he had given her and her mother everything they'd needed, hell everything they'd wanted. Maybe she was being selfish, she'd shown no interest in the wedding, in her relationship with Simon, nothing above the necessary and maybe that wasn't fair. Her mother had taken great care to ensure that even with her father now gone and debts piling up that their futures would be safe. She wasn't a woman who could live any other type of life; she'd spent too long surrounded by expensive furnishings and maid servants.

Movement on the lower deck caught her eye and she looked down. She saw the man from yesterday, the one who had found her hiding from life. Thinking back to then she had probably been rude to him, he'd found her somewhere she wasn't supposed to be, somewhere she had hoped desperately not to be found and it had scared her. She shouldn't have acted the way she did and for that reason she did something stupid for the second time in as many days and headed to the nearby stairs.

After a quick glance around she went down to the lower deck again, at this time of morning there would be hardly anyone around, almost no chance of being caught by someone. She walked around to where she had seen him, he was doing exactly as she had been doing a minute ago, staring out at the sunset. She took a deep breath and moved over to him, standing beside him at the railing. He must have heard her coming because he turned to look at her, a look of curiosity and surprise on his face.

"Lost again?" he questioned humorously and smiled slightly.

"No, I came to apologise to you," she told him and he raised an eyebrow, more surprise filtering into his expression. He didn't say anything though, just waited for her to continue. "I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you yesterday, it was unfair and rude."

"Apology accepted," John replied with a nod and Elizabeth was taken aback by how easy it had been, she wasn't sure what she'd been expecting but she'd thought it would be harder than that. "Out of curiosity though, what were you doing down here?"

"I..." Elizabeth began, her mind racing to come up with an excuse, any reason why she was down here yesterday. "Was just taking a walk around the ship, exploring, I ended up down here," she told him, he didn't believe her, she could tell but thankfully he didn't say anything.

"It's a nice ship, best third class accommodations I've seen in a while," he said instead, humour in his tone and Elizabeth nodded her head and smiled again. He held his hand out to her "John."

She stared at his hand for a moment before meeting his eyes and taking his hand "Elizabeth Weir," she introduced herself.

"It was nice to meet you, the second time anyway," he joked and she found herself genuinely smiling at it.

"I should go," she told him gesturing back toward the upper deck ignoring the urge to stay down here a while longer. "It really was a pleasure to meet you Mr..." she began realising that he hadn't given her his last name. "John. Thank you for not making this difficult."

He smiled and for a moment she looked at him wondering about him before she left. She returned to the upper deck feeling a lot better than when she had left it. Breakfast would be served soon and she would be expected to arrive with her mother and Simon, they'd no doubt be outside her room in the next fifteen minutes ensuring she was ready to go the dining room. She made her way back through the ship to her room; a few people were starting to emerge now, all of them dressed in either suits or elegant dresses, all of them looking as perfect as money could make them look.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

There were only so many places you could go on a ship and Elizabeth seemed to be spending most of her time on the boat deck. She liked it out here; she could escape from everything even if it was just for a little while. At the moment she was avoiding yet more talk about the wedding, her mother was almost obsessed with it but then it was this wedding that was going to secure her future, ensure she got to keep her cushy life. She'd done a lot to make it happen and she probably wanted the moment itself to be perfect.

Elizabeth had made an effort that morning; she had voiced her own opinion a few times, shown a little interest. Her mother, controlling woman that she was, didn't want Elizabeth taking too active a part in the plans but she seemed to have been pleased that her daughter was finally taking an interest in it. She'd only been able to take so much though, the conversation had felt more and more like it was suffocating her and eventually she'd just had to get out of there. She had made an excuse to leave, claiming she wanted to get some fresh air and would come back soon, that had been almost half an hour ago but she just couldn't bring herself to go back inside.

She circled the boat deck, walking around and looking at all the people she passed by. She knew half the people on the upper deck, either by reputation or as an acquaintance. She saw the kids that had been playing on the lower deck the first time she had gone down there, they were playing again, the same two mothers keeping them in line. Then she saw John again, on the lower deck with two other people, a tall man, built and with long dreadlocks, he was almost scary looking. There was a woman with them, brown hair that was tied back loosely, a blue skirt and green top. She stopped, staying a step away from the railing so she could duck away if she needed to.

John was talking, the woman nodded her head smiling and obviously agreeing with whatever he'd said. The bigger guy was glaring at the both, he grabbed hold of John's jacket pretending to throw him over board and Elizabeth had to wonder what these people found so funny about threatening to throw people off the ship, it was the second time she'd heard it on this voyage. Out of instinct John's hand grabbed the railing, the other taking hold of the man's arm to try and save himself even though from the look of it he'd known he wasn't actually going to get thrown over board.

He seemed happy, content with his life, in fact everything she'd seen of third class passengers showed the same. They hardly had anything, few belongings, some barely hada roof over their heads but that didn't seem to faze them, at least not that she'd seen. It was weird to think that they had less then anyone in first class but they seemed to be the far happier group.

"There you are," Simon's voice came from behind her making her jump as she turned to look at him. "I've been looking for you."

"I just needed some air," she told him.

"Yes, your mother said, she's looking for you," he informed her and she nodded her head. "You should go back inside."

It had sounded much more like an order than a suggestion, Elizabeth nodded her head again and Simon turned to walk back inside obviously expecting her to follow. She glanced back at John and his two friends, they were laughing now, enjoying the last hour of their morning. She sighed and turned back to Simon, hurrying to catch up with him.

* * *

Ronon and Teyla had gone inside for lunch, John had to admit to liking Teyla, she just seemed to click with them, especially with Ronon, in a strange sort of way. He wasn't hungry though so he'd opted instead to stay on the boat deck enjoying the sea air while he had it. In a few days they'd be back on land, he and Ronon would be setting about trying to make something of themselves in America. Whilst they were on this ship they didn't have to worry about any of that, for a few days they didn't have to think about where their next meal would come from, they could just enjoy themselves.

He walked along the deck playing with the yoyo he usually had in his pocket. He'd had it since he was a kid, he'd found it on the street probably dropped and forgotten about by another kid and he'd never been without it since. He was just contemplating going inside to find Ronon and Teyla when he caught sight of someone familiar. Elizabeth Weir, she was standing on the upper deck by the stairs that led down to where steerage got to come out and play. She looked like she was talking to herself, trying to decide whether or not to actually come down the stairs and he found himself getting more and more curious about her. He walked over to the stairs quietly, watching her debate with herself as he did so.

"First getting lost in third class, now talking to yourself, should I be getting worried?" John questioned as he walked over to her and she looked at him like a dear caught in headlights. It was similar to the look she'd given him when he'd first caught her down here except this one wasn't quite so scared.

"No," she replied composing herself a little and straightening up as she walked down the stairs as though she'd never had a second thought about it.

"Why are you talking to yourself at the top of the stairs?" he asked her as she reached the bottom and stood in front of him. She didn't answer him; she didn't have an answer at least not one she wanted to share. "What is it with you and third class?"

"I prefer it down here," she told him honestly after several moments of silence. He wasn't sure he understood that but he nodded anyway.

"Well since you seem to like it down here so much, how about I show you around?" he questioned. She hesitated again, he could see her once again debating with herself whether this was a good idea or not but eventually she started nodding her head slowly and he gestured for her to follow him. They talked idly as they walked around the ship, he told her about the places he'd been in his life and she told him about her extended vacation in England. She'd done some shopping and seen some of the sites while her fiancé had been in business meetings. He found himself disappointed that she was engaged but shoo that off, it wasn't like he'd ever actually have a chance.

He took her around the deck as though he was really giving her a tour. There really wasn't anything to see in third class, a boat deck with a few lifeboats around, kids playing and people sat around enjoying their time on the ship. Below decks there were small cramped room with narrow corridors, pipes in some places and rats scurrying about in search of dinner, he didn't take her down there.

"What is it you prefer about being down here to being up there with the rest of the rich and fortunate?" he asked her, she stiffened slightly at his question, maybe to the reference he made to the other first class passengers. Calling them that was actually kind of a habit now.

"Everyone is so much more... relaxed down here," she explained and John followed her gaze to the other passengers. They were all going about their business, some of them throwing the occasional glance at the woman who obviously didn't belong but most of them not interested. "Why is that, first class have everything they want or need but all of you have very little?"

"I guess we just know how to live with what we have, being on this ship is a chance to relax and not worry about where our next meals are gonna come from or where we're going to sleep, we want to make the most of it," he told her. He'd been thinking the same thing a few minutes ago, thinking about enjoying the voyage while he could. "So what is it about first class you're trying to escape from?"

She looked at him indignantly for even daring to ask the question "What makes you think I'm trying to escape from anything?" she asked him, the tone of her voice told him he'd been right on the mark.

"You wouldn't be coming down to third class if you weren't trying to get away from something up there," he stated and she continued to look at him angrily. For a moment he thought she was going to repeat her exit from the first time they'd run into each other but then she sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly.

"It's very suffocating," she told him not elaborating any further than that and he wasn't about to push her for answers, he didn't even know her. She was obviously troubled and whatever those troubles were drove her down here, maybe so she could get away from them, forget about them and think about something else. An idea struck him, whether or not she'd be receptive or not he didn't know but it never hurt to try.

"Before you run off on me again," he began "Whatever is bothering you is none of my business but if you really want to escape from it for a while then meet me here tonight about eight o clock."

She looked at him, uncertain and wary but he gave her a reassuring smile and turned to leave. He didn't know if she'd be there, she had no reason to trust him but something told him she might actually show up.

* * *

Lunch had been the usual third class, edible food that they had been served since they'd boarded the Titanic. John hadn't missed out on much and no doubt the leftovers would be served at a later date so he'd still be able to enjoy the great meal. Ronon and Teyla were searching the deck for him now but there wasn't any sign of him, it was possible he'd gone below decks but he'd said he wanted to get some fresh air.

"Perhaps he decided on a late lunch," Teyla suggested as they walked along the deck. Ronon wasn't sure what it was about the woman that kept him around, when he'd first met her he hadn't even planned on speaking to her. He was a private person, he liked to keep himself to himself but John had insisted on hanging around with her and so talking to her had been inevitable. She clicked with him though in a way he couldn't quite understand. She was probably the first person he'd met that could tell him what to do and much to his surprise have him actually do it.

"Yeah maybe," Ronon replied as two kids came running up the deck almost running straight into Ronon. He sidestepped the first pulling Teyla out of the way of the second who stopped for a moment to apologise before continuing to chase down his friend. "Kids," Ronon said keeping his dislike for them in check.

"You don't like them?" Teyla questioned picking up on it anyway, she was eerily observant.

"Not so much not like them as get annoyed by their presence," he told her and she smiled at his answer. Maybe he didn't dislike kids that much but when they were around they were constantly getting under his feet, running about with no thought to innocent bystanders.

"Let's just find John," Teyla suggested and Ronon refocused his attention on his friend.

"Now is it just me or is John acting weird at the moment?" Ronon questioned and Teyla shrugged.

"I've only know you a few days," she pointed out "But now that you mention it, he's been quieter than when I first met him. He doesn't spend as much time with us as he started out doing and he always seems to have something on his mind."

"Now, see, that's exactly what I mean?" Ronon said "What is with you, you know people inside out in less than a day?"

"It's a gift," Teyla replied "And as for John, I'm sure he has his reasons, I don't pretend to know what they are but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. We're on a ship in the middle of the ocean after all, how much trouble could he get into?

"You don't know John that well then, if he doesn't find trouble it finds him," Ronon stated "And I think it's a very creepy gift by the way."

"I know, that's why I keep saying things that most people wouldn't know after just a few days," she told him and he glared at the innocent smile she gave him.

* * *

Dinner in first class was over, the men had gone to the smoking room and the women were free to do as they liked. Elizabeth excused herself from the latest round of gossiping and left the dinning room. She went outside locating the nearest set of stairs and chastising herself for her stupidity. She had no idea who this John person was, she'd only met him a few times while she'd been in a place she shouldn't have been but she still found herself sneaking away in the late evening to meet him. If she was honest she wanted to know what he had planned, he had seemed pretty pleased with himself when he'd come up with it. He hadn't given her even the faintest clue what it was though maybe because he thought she wouldn't agree to it. If he tried anything funny she'd be out of there before he could blink but for some reason she didn't think that would be an issue.

It was already dark, the lights from the ship the only real source of illumination out on the deck, the sky was pretty cloudy covering the stars and the moon. There were a few people about but most were inside avoiding the chill that was in the air that night. She made her way across the deck wishing she had a coat with her. She was already late meeting him and for a moment she thought he might have gone but when she came around the corner she saw him standing there. He was by the railing looking out at the dark water with no clue she was behind him.

"Sorry I'm a little late," she said quietly to get his attention and he turned around and smiled.

"Thought for a minute you might not be coming," he said and she looked down at the deck for a second before meeting his eyes.

"I wasn't going to," she admitted, she'd been thinking about it all afternoon and the more she thought the more she knew this was a bad idea. She'd been sat at dinner with the others, her mother telling some story that everyone else found amusing. By the end of the meal she'd felt like she was going crazy and all she could think was how she wanted to go and meet John.

"What changed your mind?" he asked her and she shrugged. She might have come down here to meet him but she still didn't know him, didn't known anything about him and she wasn't going to start sharing the more intimate details of her life with him.

"So what did you have in mind?" she questioned and he smiled smugly at her.

"We're going to a party," he told her and her eyes widened. There was no way, she couldn't, she was a first class passenger and she shouldn't even be down on this deck, shouldn't be talking to John never mind going to a third class party.

"I can't," she said trying to come up with an excuse that wouldn't be rude or offensive.

"Of course you can, come on, we'll go and if you're not happy we can leave again and I'll bring you back here myself," he said and even as her mind screamed at her that this was a bad idea, that out of all the stupid things she'd done since she'd come aboard the Titanic this was by far the most stupid, she found herself nodding. He took her hand and the fact that she didn't pull away surprised her more than her agreeing to this in the first place.

She almost had second thoughts when he led her below decks but she followed him anyway. It was cramped down here, some of the corridors were pretty narrow and there was none of the elegant decoration that adorned first class anywhere to be seen. There were people in the corridors and the difference between first and third class had never been more obvious to her. She could here music, quiet at first but it got louder and louder as John pulled her along the corridor. They arrived at the party, John opening a door to reveal a large room, not as big as the first class dining room but big enough to fit plenty of passengers in.

There was a band playing on what could pass for a stage, people were dancing and laughing, huge glasses of beer being passed around and various drinking games or arm wrestling competitions being played. It was nothing like anything she'd seen, everyone seemed to be having a great time and they were so raw and open that it stunned her. There was no pretence in the room, none.

"Come on," John encouraged and she followed him through the room to the two people she'd seen him on the deck with before. "Ronon, Teyla," he shouted and the two looked over at them both looking surprised by his guest. "Did I miss anything good?"

"Only Billy getting so drunk he knocked over half the people on the dance floor, nothing we didn't see yesterday," Teyla replied her eyes going to Elizabeth.

"This is Elizabeth," John introduced "She's a friend of mine, Elizabeth this is Teyla and Ronon."

"It's nice to meet you," Teyla stated getting over her initial shock and reaching a hand out. Elizabeth accepted it though she didn't get quite the same response from Ronon, just a barely there smile and a nod of his head before he reached for his beer. "Here, sit down," Teyla said gesturing to the empty seat next to her and casting a glare at Ronon. Elizabeth smiled and sat down finally letting go of John's hand.

"I'll be right back," John told her and Elizabeth felt a slight moment of panic as she watched him go but Teyla put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Do not worry, you are perfectly safe with us," she said. A few moments later John returned with several glasses of beer balanced in his hands which he put down on the table carefully.

"Sorry Elizabeth but this is all we have, our expensive wine supplies have run out," he joked and she actually found herself laughing at the terrible excuse for humour.

"That's alright," she told him taking the glass he'd brought for her and drinking a substantial amount of it in one go. Her father had preferred beer to wine, he'd drank wine only when he was around important people but given the choice he would have chosen this. He'd made sure he'd passed his love for the drink onto his daughter telling her it was not very lady like to drink it but as long as she did it in private then it was perfectly acceptable. He'd later added the condition that her mother never found out he'd been giving her the stuff since she was old enough to drink, maybe slightly before.

There were three surprised looks thrown in her direction and she shrugged "What?"

"Absolutely nothing," John replied shaking his head and putting his own glass down. "Dance with me?" he requested holding his had out to her and she hardly gave it a thought before accepting. They'd barely been dancing for more than a few seconds before someone bumped into her almost knocking her down, it was immediately apparent to Elizabeth that the man was very drunk. John gave him a shove out of the way sending him back in the direction he'd come from before looking at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked her and she laughed.

"I'm fine," she replied stepping closer to him as he put his hand on her waist to continue dancing. This whole thing was like nothing she'd ever done before, like nowhere she'd ever been. Her father had once told her that rich people had forgotten how to party and she understood what he meant now. Violins playing classical, slow music was nice but this was something altogether different and not in a bad way. She had no idea what she was doing, John was leading her and she spent far too much time looking at her feet trying to figure out where the hell they should go.

"Don't think," John said lifting her chin up. "Just look at me."

She met his eyes, holding his gaze as they continued dancing and she managed to not step on his toes. It was hard to resist the urge to look down and laughed at herself when she lost the battle with it. She was getting the hang of it and she concentrated on looking at John, he smiled at seeing the inner struggle she was having and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's not funny," she told him laughing despite what she'd said.

"Of course it's not," he replied and she decided to focus her attention on something else.

"Are they a couple?" she asked gesturing to Ronon and Teyla who were still sat together where they'd left them. Another man had come over and was stood talking to them, Ronon was grinning while Teyla just looked dismayed.

"No... actually you know what, I don't know," John said. "We only met Teyla when we came aboard but I've hardly seen them apart since and with the way they act around each other..."

"Have you tried asking?" Elizabeth questioned and John shook his head laughing.

"I think Ronon might hurt me for even suggesting it," he told her. "He doesn't like to admit he's just a big teddy bear underneath it all."

"I bet he doesn't," Elizabeth replied laughing as they stopped dancing. "Another drink?" she asked.

"Yeah," John nodded. "And I think I may need to stop Ronon getting into another drinking competition, the last one wasn't pretty."

She held onto his hand as they moved back over to his friends and as John had suspected Ronon was getting challenged to what sounded like a rematch. He quickly put an end to that for which Teyla looked relieved and the four of them sat down, Elizabeth stayed close to John as they enjoyed their drinks.

* * *

As promised John brought her back up to the boat deck, it was a ridiculously late hour and she could only hope that no one had missed her. John had been right though, up until that moment she hadn't even thought about first class, hadn't thought about Simon or her mother or the wedding. She'd had a good time, the best she'd had in a very ling time, since long before her father had gotten sick and part of her didn't want to leave. She was walking slowly, John sticking to her pace and not rushing her back to the stairs.

"Thank you for this," she said as they walked across the boat deck, she could see the stairs up ahead, the ones that were closest to her room.

"Not a problem," he replied and she smiled at him.

"No really, I had a good time," she emphasised and he shrugged.

"Well so did I, it was fun having you around," he told her and she smiled and looked down at the deck trying to figure out a way to draw this out longer. She couldn't come up with anything and as they came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs she knew it was time to go back to her world and leave this one. "If you're ever in need of a good party just look me up."

"I'll do that," she smiled and as even as they fell silent she couldn't bring herself to go.

"I think Ronon's gonna miss you," he said and she laughed, the big guy as John kept referring to him had warmed up to her a little as the night had gone on.

"Tell him I already miss him too," she replied and then looked up the stairs, it was time to go. "Goodnight John," she said bringing any further conversation to an end. "It's been really great."

"Yeah it has, goodnight Elizabeth."

She smiled and nodded her head, hesitating one last time before going up the stairs. She looked back briefly at the top, John was watching her go and she offered him one last smile before she disappeared from his line of sight. She still thought that going down there, agreeing to go with him to the party below decks had been the most stupid idea she'd had in a long time but she didn't regret it. She'd had a good time, seen a side to life, to people she hadn't seen before and she was glad she'd taken the chance and gone.

* * *

Elizabeth had met Simon for breakfast on the private balcony; he'd wanted to spend some time with just the two of them. The whole thing had been an uncomfortable affair and she was glad it was almost over with, they'd already eaten they just had to finish their tea and then they'd be on their way. She was exhausted, it had been almost 2am when she'd made it back to her room after her trip to third class last night and she'd been woken up bright and early that morning, it was the first time her mother and Simon had been awake before her since they'd boarded the ship.

"Where were you last night?" Simon questioned as Elizabeth placed her empty cup down on the table. "I came to say goodnight to you and you weren't in your room."

"I was probably out on the deck, I felt like taking a walk," she lied and from the look he gave her she almost wished she hadn't.

He shook his head "Can't even tell the truth now."

"What?" she questioned hoping playing dumb would help her out here.

"I know exactly where you were Elizabeth," he stated in a voice so low and dangerous Elizabeth shrank back slightly in her chair. "You must have been very tired this morning; the party below decks went on very late."

Despite her fear Elizabeth was angry enough at him to stop shrinking back away from him. "Having me followed again Simon?" she questioned. "I'm sure it was that little weasel Kavanaugh again, when did you set him loose?"

"You will not speak to me like that," he raised his voice at her standing and walking around the table toward her. "If you would act as you're supposed to then I wouldn't have to keep an eye on you so often. I know last night was not the first time you have gone down to third class but I let that slide, you're behaviour last night was unacceptable."

"Then how would you have me behave?" Elizabeth questioned her own voice rising. "Like a caged animal? I'm your fiancé Simon, not an employee and not a possession; you have no right to treat me as one."

The slap across her face was so unexpected it almost knocked her out of the chair and as she reached her hand up to her cheek she knew there was going to be a mark there later. "That's right you're my fiancé and I expect you to behave as such. I will not have you gallivanting around this ship with third class passengers is that understood?"

Elizabeth nodded her head, speaking at that moment would probably only have gotten her into more trouble. Simon stepped back, kicking over the table in his anger and turning back to her again. "I expect you to behave yourself Elizabeth," he warned her before walking away, the door back into the ship slamming behind him, the sound going straight through Elizabeth. A few moments later the maid was there to clean up the mess Simon had made. It took Elizabeth a few seconds to make her body move out for the chair to try and help the maid. The woman took her shaky hand and kindly told her to sit back down.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The stinging had stopped so she supposed that was a plus, the angry red mark on her face was still obvious though despite Elizabeth's attempts to cover it up. She was supposed to be getting ready for dinner but instead she was staring absently at her reflection in the dresser's mirror. She was so tired of all of this, of the pretence, of feigning smiles when all she wanted to do was scream. She would go to dinner now with a mark on her face that anyone who bothered to look would see and they wouldn't even look twice. Resigning herself to her fate she stood up and reached for her dress putting it on in time for the door to open and her mother to walk in.

"Elizabeth, you should be ready by now," her mother said looking annoyed.

"I am ready mother," she replied putting her shoes on and brushing her hair away from her face.

"I know this hasn't been easy on you but your behaviour at the moment is unacceptable," her mother said and Elizabeth closed her eyes to push back her emotions. "You can't continue like this, you're jeopardising everything," her mother continued, anger starting to take over annoyance. "Don't just stand there Elizabeth, are you listening to me?"

"Yes," Elizabeth told her. She didn't need to listen though, she knew what her mother was going to say, Simon had said it all to her this morning, punctuating it with a slap across the face, she'd gotten the message then.

"Then start behaving yourself and stop being selfish," her mother instructed and Elizabeth felt her own annoyance rising. The rapidly surfacing need to stand up for herself was rearing its head again and she couldn't quite shove it back down.

"Selfish?" she questioned angrily. "How am I being selfish, I have done everything that's been asked of me?"

"Until now," her mother pointed out. "Elizabeth, you walk around with your head down and a solemn look on your face. You're getting married in a month, Simon will be a good husband, he's already proven that both of us will be taken care of. It's time you started acting like you want this marriage and if I hear any more about you going down to third class or behaving inappropriately again, there will be severe consequences."

Elizabeth didn't bother to respond, it was an argument she knew she wouldn't win and she'd known even when she'd done it that she shouldn't go below decks. Her mother knew she'd won, her features softened and she reached her hand towards Elizabeth's face running her fingers over the mark there.

"That didn't need to happen, if you behave it won't," Melinda stated and Elizabeth bit back her response to that. "Let's go."

* * *

"You're nuts," Ronon declared in frustration, this whole situation was nuts. Elizabeth had seemed like a nice enough woman but at the end of the day she was still first class, John was steerage, third class, he had no business even hanging around with her. Now the idiot was falling for her, he could deny it all he wanted, the moron was still falling for her. On top of all this the woman was engaged to a man who was probably made out of money and could give her the world a few times over. John might be acting like an idiot but he wasn't stupid or blind, he'd have seen the engagement ring on her finger, the one with a diamond on it worth more money than John and Ronon had seen in their entire lives put together. He knew what that meant, he knew what all of it meant but he had still allowed things to get this far.

"I'm just being nice to the woman," John protested "She seems like she could use a friend."

"She has friends and I bet they all have as much money in their pockets as she does," Ronon told him sarcastically and then sighed. "John, I've known you a long time, I know you well enough to known this, you're falling for the girl."

"You don't know what you're talking about," John stated and left. Ronon knew he'd made his friend mad especially when he half slammed the door behind him. Teyla stepped out of the corner where she'd been standing quietly throughout the argument, allowing the two friends to deal with it without interference from her.

"He's an idiot, this is only going to cause trouble," Ronon said throwing his arms into the air. "She's first class, he's third, the two don't mix, they never have and they never will. He knows that, he never should have let it get this far."

"Consider how he feels Ronon," Teyla suggested diplomatically.

"I am," Ronon told her. "How he feels is exactly the problem and in the end all that's gonna come of it is he's gonna get his heart broken."

"So what are you more worried about, trouble or him getting his heart broken?" She questioned and Ronon was about to tell her he just didn't want to have to deal with whatever trouble John was brining down on them but as if reading his mind Teyla beat him to it. "You do not strike me as the type to worry about trouble from a few first class passengers."

"Fine, I'm worried about him, happy now?" he asked and she smiled innocently, nodding her head.

"Whilst you're worrying about John's feelings for this woman you've not considered something else," Teyla pointed out and Ronon looked at her expectantly waiting for her to continue and tell him what he'd missed. "How she feels."

"What?" he questioned, had she lost her mind now too?

"Did you not see them last night Ronon, whatever it is that John feels for this woman, it is not one way," Teyla told him and Ronon had to think back to the way they had both acted last night. She was right again; it seemed she usually was, Elizabeth had looked over to John as often as he had looked to her. She had stayed close to him, smiled at his lame jokes which Ronon hadn't found funny in the entire time he'd known John. "I do not now you both that well yet but John seems like a smart man, one who is likely to land on his feet."

John did have a habit of defying the odds and despite what his current behaviour suggested he wasn't stupid. Ronon finally sat down, letting the issue go for now, John could handle himself and if things did go bad that's when Ronon would step in. "Alright," he sighed as Teyla sat next to him, she patted his arm sympathetically.

"You are a good man Ronon," she stated kissing his cheek and Ronon stared at her a moment. There was something about her that he couldn't explain, he couldn't even understand it but there was just something about her. It annoyed him in a very good kind of way.

"Come on," he said as he stood up. "I need to take a walk."

She stood up and followed him out of the room, linking her arm with his as they walked down the crowded corridor. "What do you think?" she questioned. "Could he actually have fallen for her in just a few days, do you think that's really possible?"

"Yeah," he replied looking at her and he thought that maybe he could understand just a little bit of what John was feeling. "I do."

She looked up at him, detecting the hidden meaning behind his words. She didn't say anything else, just smiled her understanding and continued walking.

* * *

Simon's warning was still ringing loud and clear in her head even as she stood at the bow of the ship. Nothing she'd done since coming aboard the Titanic had been smart and she knew she shouldn't have come back down here again. It would be the last time, her final few minutes of escape from the suffocation that had become her life. After this it was time to start behaving as everyone kept telling her, she would be leaving the ship in a couple of days and a month from now she'd marry Simon. She'd have a secure future, her mother would get to keep her cushy life and Simon would have a trophy wife on his arm, it was for the best.

"Elizabeth."

She almost couldn't turn around at the sound of the voice that was becoming familiar even though she should never have heard it in the first place.

"We gotta stop running into each other like this, it's gonna start creeping me out," he stated humorously and Elizabeth almost smiled at that. She didn't know what it was but this man seemed to make her smile with ease. She finally looked at him and the look on his face changed from amusement to anger as he stepped closer to her. His hand went to the mark on her face, his eyes following it before they met hers.

"It's nothing," she lied "I fell this morning."

"Is that why it looks like a hand print?" he questioned and she stepped back from him.

"It doesn't concern you John, none of it does. I shouldn't have come down here last night or any of the times before that, I shouldn't be down here now," she told him reaching her own hand to the mark.

"Yet you keep coming back, why is that?" he asked her and she looked at him meeting his eyes once again and finding she didn't have an answer. She didn't know why she kept coming here, kept running into him. All she did know was that when she was in first class with Simon and her mother she felt suffocated and when she was hear, when she was with him she felt free, she'd smiled more in the last few days that she had in the last few months.

"I don't know," she replied honestly and he stepped closer to her again, closing the distance she'd tried to put between them. She was drawn to this man in a way she couldn't understand, not when she'd only met him a few days ago. She couldn't move, he was standing so close to her, too close and she couldn't bring herself to step back like she knew she should. For several seconds they just stood there, his eyes went to her lips before they came back to her eyes and she knew what was coming.

It was that knowledge that brought her crashing back to reality. She was falling for this man and that was wrong, that was wrong in so many ways and she couldn't do this. She stepped back, shaking her head and blinking, breaking the eye contact she had with him.

"I can't..." she began but couldn't finish, instead she turned around and left almost running back to the stairs that had brought her down here. This was insane, she'd known him for a few days, she couldn't be falling for him, not that fast and not when she was engaged to Simon, not when she was supposed to be getting married in a month. She cursed as she reached the upper deck again, not slowing her pace as she made her way to her room and not looking back. Just when she thought she'd gotten herself in order she goes and does something stupid again or rather she realised she'd already done something stupid.

That was it, she wouldn't go back down there again, she'd stay up here where she belonged and not even look at the lower deck again.

* * *

He wasn't entirely sure he was thinking straight as he moved quietly up the stairs; he poked his head up at the top to make sure no one was around. Once he was sure he hadn't been spotted he ran the rest of the way up. He had no idea where he was going, where to look but he knew he had to at least try, futile as it may be. Everyone he passed looked at him, most of them obviously knew he didn't belong but none of them commented, at least not until after he'd passed them. He could hear their whispers behind him but he didn't have the time to care, he knew he'd be caught up here sooner or later.

As he walked along the deck he tried to figure out where the hell he was going realising this really had been a bad idea, he probably should have thought this out better. After ten minutes of walking along the deck he decided to head inside, he was more likely to get caught but if Elizabeth was in there then it was worth a try. Several doorways later he found himself in the grand staircase, at least he hoped it was the grand staircase because if it wasn't then these people had more money than he'd thought. The wide staircase was framed by dark wood which seemed to make up the majority of the furnishings. Doors had glass windows and through them John could see rooms decorated with warm colours. The difference between here and steerage was unbelievable; he was tempted to stop someone just to ask if he was still on the same ship.

"Sir, you're not supposed to be here," someone said and John turned to see two members of the crew walking over to him.

"What makes you think that?" John questioned and the two men looked at him, neither was amused.

"You don't belong here," one of the two men said.

"I'm just looking for someone, I need to talk to them," John tried to explain but the two men seemed completely unsympathetic.

"Let's go," they instructed one of them grabbing John's arms. John tried to shrug them off, arguing that he just needed to speak with someone and then he'd be happy to go back to third class. They weren't having any of it and kept trying to drag John away until another man came over, a scrawny looking guy by his side.

"So you're the one I've heard about," the man stated arrogantly and John looked at him in confusion, why the hell would this guy have heard about him?

"Who are you?" John questioned the struggle momentarily suspended.

"Simon Wallace," the man told him and John instantly recognised the name as Elizabeth's fiancé, so this was the man that had hit her, the red mark on her face was from him. Simon looked at him smugly, he knew that John knew who he was and it apparently gave him more reason to look down on John.

"So you're the one that felt there was a need to hit a woman," John commented half echoing Simon's greeting to him. Anger flashed across the richer man's face and John was pretty sure he wanted to hit John as well and John could only hope he tried, it would give him good reason to hit him back.

"Gentleman," Simon began taking money out of his pocket and splitting it between the two crewmen. "Make sure he makes it back to where he belongs."

The two crewmen took the money and grabbed John's arms again pullingand started to pull him toward the doors. They'd barely stepped through them when they were stopped again this time by one of the ship's officers, a young man who sent the crewman on their way and told them he'd take John down himself.

"And you are?" John questioned resigning himself to the fact that he was going back to steerage whether he liked it or not.

"Officer Lorne," the man replied "I know Miss Weir, I know Mr Wallace too."

"Is this the part where you drag me into a dark corner and beat the crap out of me?" John asked sarcastically.

"No, I don't even like Mr Wallace. Miss Weir on the other hand, I do like, she's a lovely woman and I don't know what she's been doing with you but congratulations on making Wallace mad at you for it," Lorne told him and John smiled slightly.

"Thanks," he replied and then an idea hit him. "Want to help me make him madder?"

"Depends on what I have to do?" Lorne laughed and John stopped walking and turned to look at him.

"I only came up here to talk to Elizabeth, can you take a letter to her for me?" he asked and Lorne looked at him unsure. "It's just a letter; Mr Wallace never has to know that you helped me."

"Alright."

* * *

Elizabeth knew better than to ignore the knock at the door as much as she wanted to. If it was Simon he'd eventually just come in and he'd be mad if he found out she'd been in here ignoring him. She opened the door a little relieved to find Laura standing on the other side and not her fiancé. Laura's expression was unusually serious, sympathy written all over it and Elizabeth didn't really want deal with that right now. All the same she stepped back and let Laura into the room.

"So do you want to tell me why he hit you?" Laura questioned bluntly, she'd never been one to dance around an issue.

"No," Elizabeth replied simply as she sat down on the bed, Laura moved to sit next to her, the blue dress she was wearing dragging slightly on the floor.

"Well you can tell me anyway," Laura said and Elizabeth sighed.

"I was talking back to him, I think I half asked for it, I know better," Elizabeth told her and anger filled Laura's expression, anger at Simon.

"You don't actually think it was your fault do you?" Laura questioned and Elizabeth shook her head looking down at the floor. "Good, can I ask what you were talking back to him about?"

"He found out I was going down to third class," Elizabeth stated and Laura's eyes widened.

"What did he say exactly?" she asked ignoring the fact that she'd been going down to steerage.

"That I was behaving inappropriately and I was never to go back down there. That wasn't the worst of it though," Elizabeth began to explain, Laura looked at her expectantly waiting to hear the rest of the story. "I didn't just go to third class; I went to a party down there."

"Are you serious, what on earth possessed you to do that?" Laura half exclaimed and Elizabeth shook her head again.

"I have no idea, I won't be doing it again," Elizabeth replied, part of her wished she hadn't done it in the first place and part of her, despite everything, was still glad that she did.

"What about that man?" Laura asked and the look she gave Elizabeth was far too knowing. "Come on Elizabeth, you know I know everything and I know you. There's no way you would ever be reckless enough to go down there without some pretty big outside influence."

"I don't know," Elizabeth almost moaned as she dropped her head into her hands, what happened at the bow of the ship was still clear in her mind and she hadn't been able to shake it, shake the feelings she knew she shouldn't have. "When I'm down there, when I'm with him, I feel... like things matter. I feel like there's more to life than just making it through each day."

"Look I know it's none of my business but that's never really stopped me before and it's not going to this time either. Simon seems like a good man but you and I both know that's just one side of him, the side people get to see. He's an arrogant, selfish jerk who only cares about himself, his money and what he wants," Laura told her and even though Elizabeth couldn't disagree with her she raised an eyebrow at the bluntness of it even if it was Laura. "You've been miserable since your father got sick, more since he died and even more than that since Simon came into your life. This guy, John or whatever his name was, he seems to make you smile which is something no one ever gets to see anymore."

"What are you saying Laura?" Elizabeth questioned but before Laura could reply there was another knock at the door. Elizabeth went to answer it finding Officer Lorne on the other side; he smiled his greeting, polite and respectful as always.

"Ma'am," he greeted looking up and down the corridor as if he was expecting someone to jump out at him. "I thought you might like to know Mr Sheppard was just caught sneaking into first class, I escorted him back to his part of the ship but he asked me to give you this."

Elizabeth took the letter he held out to her and he nodded his head once and left, probably worried that Simon was going to come along and spot him. Lorne didn't strike her as a man who got intimidated easily but he probably didn't want to lose his job either, if any of the first class passengers had reason to they could very easily get a white star line employee fired. Closing the door Elizabeth walked back over to the bed sitting down beside Laura.

"What does it say?" she questioned and Elizabeth opened the letter, her eyes scanning the hastily written note.

"Everything I already know," Elizabeth replied giving the letter to Laura so she could read it herself.

* * *

She didn't care anymore that it was stupid, at that moment she didn't even care if Simon found out about it. It was reckless, idiotic and completely unlike her and still, she couldn't make herself care. She walked down the stairs to third class for what felt like the millionth time going below decks without even a moment's hesitation. She didn't know how to find John, didn't even know where to start looking but she had to try.

Like all the other times she'd come here there were a few passers by who gave her curious glances but most of them just went about their own business. She recognised some of the faces as people she'd met at the party down here, a couple of them smiled to her as she passed. The corridors down here seemed to have only half the logical order they should have, every time she changed corridor the numbers jumped from one place to another. She was so lost and turned around she wouldn't even have been able to find her way back to deck if she turned around now.

"Elizabeth?" a voice questioned, it was vaguely familiar and Elizabeth turned around to see John's friend standing there.

"Teyla," she greeted a little unsure of herself.

Teyla smiled "You are looking for John?"

"Yes," Elizabeth nodded.

"It is easy to get lost down here, I will take you to him," Teyla told her and Elizabeth smiled gratefully. It would have been nice if someone had told her how easy it was to get lost down here before she'd come down and gotten herself lost. She didn't speak to Teyla while they were on their way to find John; instead she concentrated her thoughts on what she was going to say to him. "Here we are," Teyla said gesturing to the door in front of them. She knocked and waited for an answer, a few seconds later Ronon opened the door. He looked surprised to see Elizabeth there as well but after a moment he turned to look over his shoulder.

"I'm going for lunch with Teyla, see you later," he said and then stepped out of the room holding the door open for Elizabeth to go through. She stepped inside waiting until Ronon and Teyla were gone. John was sat on the bottom bunk of the bed unaware she was in the room. She'd never seen third class like this before, never seen the rooms that they lived in and for a moment she was so struck by the contrast to first class that she almost forgot why she was here.

"John," she said quietly and his head snapped around to where she was still standing by the door. He looked stunned to see her, he hadn't expected to. "I got your letter," she told him still clueless as to what she was supposed to say to him now. He didn't say anything, just kept staring at her as she tried to find the right words to fill the silence. "I..." she began. "I wasn't going to come back down here again but... the more I thought about it..." She was rapidly getting frustrated with the lack of words coming to her; she was usually good with words. "I was running away from Simon, from my mother, from a marriage I didn't want, a life I didn't want. Everyday for months I've been miserable but these last few days with you, I've been happier than I have in a long time."

She sighed; glad the words had finally come out in a way that at least made sense even if it didn't quite cover what she wanted to tell him. In a second he'd crossed the room, his lips meeting hers as he kissed her. There was almost hesitation in it but once she kissed him back that was gone, his hands went to her waist pulling her closer and she cupped the sides of his face with her own hands. She couldn't get him close enough, couldn't get enough of him and she released his face sliding her hands down his chest without breaking the kiss and reaching for the hem of his shirt.

"Elizabeth," John said sucking in a breath and she could hear the unasked question in his voice. This was insane, she'd known the man a few days but at that moment none of it mattered to her. For the first time in a long time she knew what she wanted. She kissed him harder making sure he understood her intentions, when he pulled her against him she knew he did.

* * *

John's hand traced lazy patterns on Elizabeth's arm where it was laid across him. She moved her head on his chest, shifting to get more comfortable and he instinctively tightened his hold on her. He hadn't expected to see her again, even as he'd written the letter for Lorne to take to her he'd thought it would be for nothing. Whatever had changed her mind, whatever had made her come down here looking for him he was grateful.

"Well I didn't quite mean for this to happen when I came here," Elizabeth joked quietly and John smirked.

"I'm not complaining," he stated and Elizabeth shifted again, moving so that she could look up at him.

"John, I don't know what this is but... when the ship docks, I want to leave with you," she told him. It was impulsive, especially for her but everything she'd done so far had been impulsive and she couldn't bring herself to regret any of it. On the other hand, her carefully planned out life, the one where everything was calculated and thought out was making her miserable.

"Are you sure?" John questioned in surprise but there was hope behind his voice. "You'd be giving everything up, you'd have to leave first class behind, I have nothing to give you, none of what Simon has."

"So you said in your letter but I came anyway didn't I?" she questioned and he nodded his head slowly. He had to be sure though, it wasn't him that would have to give up everything in his life, everything that he was used to having, he didn't want her to regret this in a few months.

"Elizabeth," he began but she cut him off with a finger to his lips.

"I know what I'd be leaving behind John," she told him "And I know what I'd be gaining, I haven't gone into this blind... not completely blind anyway, unless of course you don't want me to."

John ran his fingers through her hair brushing it away from her face before leaning forward to kiss her. "Believe me, I want you to," he replied before he kissed her again.

* * *

The boat deck was pretty quiet, it was late now and most people were inside, in their beds, not out here in the cold. John kept hold of Elizabeth's hand as they reached the stairs that led back to first class, he didn't like this but she'd made a good point when she'd said they had to do it. It didn't mean he had to like it but he'd kept quiet about it, he knew Elizabeth wasn't a fan of the idea either.

"You're still sure you want to do this?" he asked her as they came to a stop and she nodded her head biting her lip as she did so.

"I have to, I have to go back and act like nothing's going on until we dock. If I leave before then it'll make everything impossible, Simon would never allow me to leave him," she explained again even though she didn't need to, they'd already had a lengthy conversation about but John could tell she was still trying to convince herself.

"You'll be fine," John stated running his hand over her hair, reassuring himself as much as her.

"I know, this will all be behind me soon," she replied talking to herself more than him.

"This is insane you know," he pointed out.

"I know," Elizabeth half laughed and then looked at him seriously "But I know its right."

John kissed her hard putting his arms around her as though some part of him thought it might keep her from going. The red mark was still there on the side of her face, faded and covered by a layer of make up but he knew it was there and he was letting her go back to the man who had done that to her. She indulged him for a moment kissing him back but eventually she broke the kiss and stepped back.

"I have to go, I'll be fine," she told him and after another moment she turned and walked up the stairs. She glanced back at him just before she reached the top and then disappeared out of sight. John released a sigh hoping he was doing the right thing, both in letting Elizabeth leave her life behind and in letting her go back to it for now.

He turned around about to head back below decks when he saw something in front of the ship, a dark shape appearing against the almost as dark sky. It was getting larger, moving closer to the ship and it only took a few more seconds for John to realise what it was, an iceberg. It was huge and though he could see the ship turning he knew if they were going to miss the thing it would be by a pretty damn close call. It came along the side of the ship and John had to step back as it scraped along the Titanic's side throwing chunks of ice onto the deck and knocking over a couple of passengers that had been too near.

John stared at a chunk of ice that had landed just a couple of feat from him, that had been close.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Simon was already in her room when she got there and Elizabeth knew immediately that she was in trouble. Part of her wished she'd just stayed with John but she also knew that would have ended badly, Simon would never allow her to leave him like that. She braced herself for whatever was coming and walked into the room. Simon's eyes fell on her immediately, anger radiating from him as he saw her standing there.

"Where've you been?" he questioned his tone just as angry as his expression. "I've been looking for you all night."

"I felt like taking a walk, I was on the deck," she lied.

"For the last three hours?" he questioned incredulously and she shrugged.

"I guess I lost track of time," she told him and stepped further into the room trying to go about her business as though her heart wasn't beating a hundred miles an hour. Simon grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him forcing her to look at him and she was going to be really upset if he gave her a mark to match the one still fading on the side of her face.

"You better not be lying to me Elizabeth," he warned her and she bit back her fear letting her anger come through in its place.

She pulled her arm back out of his grasp. "I told you before Simon, I'm not one of your possessions and you don't own me. I'll go where I want, when I want and I don't need your permission to do it," she told him and she could see his anger flash across his face. He pulled his arm back and she knew he was going to hit her again, when had she suddenly lost the understanding that talking back was a bad idea. He stopped himself a moment before he swung for her and she could see the restraint it took even as she was flinching away from him.

She watched him walk out of the room almost slamming the door behind him and she flinched again at the sound of it. She looked around her room at the elegant decorating; the expensive dresses and fine jewellery and she couldn't find a single thing that she was going to miss. She could take some of it with her of course, some of it could be sold, it was worth a lot.

She couldn't deny that she'd miss her mother, despite the fact that the whole wedding to Simon had been her doing, she was still her mother. She was the only family Elizabeth had now and leaving her behind was going to be hard but she had to do it, she was miserable living like this and she was going to go insane if she stayed any longer. She had a chance at happiness now, a real chance and even though she knew it was going to be hard, she knew she was doing the right thing.

* * *

Simon walked out of Elizabeth's room his temper at boiling point. He'd almost lost it with her again; she seemed to be making a habit out of making him angry at the moment. Before they'd come aboard this ship he'd never really had a problem with her, other than her lack of interest in the wedding and her always walking around looking like the world had ended. Something had changed while they'd been aboard this ship and he had a feeling it was something to do with her trips to third class. Whatever it was, he wasn't going to let it keep interfering with his plans, with his life.

Kavanaugh was waiting for him down the corridor and from the look on the man's face he had something to tell Simon that he wasn't going to like. He prepared himself for whatever it was; he would just have to deal with it, whatever it took. Kavanaugh fell in step beside him as he passed, the rather pathetic man hurrying a few paces to keep up with him.

"What do you have to tell me?" Simon asked getting straight to the point.

"I was following her like you asked me to, I lost her a few hours ago but I found her again just before she came up here," Kavanaugh began to explain but Simon didn't have the patience to listen to the man's whole tale, he wasn't in the mood.

"Does this story have a point Mr Kavanaugh?" he asked.

"She was with that man, the one from third class that I keep telling you about, the one she went to the party below decks with," he told him and Simon stopped walking to look at him. "They were on the boat deck, kissing."

Simon felt his anger boil up despite his efforts not to let it "Are you sure?" he questioned through gritted teeth.

"Very sure," Kavanaugh replied and Simon got a reign on his emotions, a plan already formulating in his head, he was not going to lose. He walked to the deck of the ship locating one of the officers he had talked to before, someone he knew he could buy for a decent price.

"Officer," he greeted getting the man's attention before slipping some money into his pocket, a fairly substantial amount of money at that. The officer looked confused at first, staring at Simon with expectant eyes, waiting for an explanation.

"John Sheppard," he began glad that he had told Kavanaugh to find out who the man was that had been causing him so much trouble. "I want him arrested, I don't care what it's for, I just want him out of my way. Do we have an understanding?"

The officer looked at the money in his pocket obviously knowing there was a lot more there than a deal like this was actually worth. He looked back at Simon meeting his eyes and after a moment nodded his head.

"He's a third class passenger, I'm sure you'll find him down there somewhere with the rest of his kind," Simon told him and then turned to leave. "Let me know when it's done," he added as he was walking away, Kavanaugh in tow.

* * *

John had spent every moment since he'd seen Elizabeth off listening to Ronon and Teyla hound him for details. They wanted to know what was going on, understandably so, it wasn't everyday a first class girl fell for a third class boy and agreed to run away with him. He'd told them a very much summarised version of what had happened between him and Elizabeth leaving out the intimate details which he'd had to tell them more than once were none of their business.

"I think it's romantic," Teyla stated with a grin.

"And a little bit stupid," Ronon added leaning back against the wall of the corridor they were standing in. John couldn't disagree with him, it really was stupid and insane but the more he thought about it the more he knew it was right.

"Mr Sheppard?" someone asked and John looked at the man in front of him, he was with two other men, all of them obviously part of the ship's crew.

"Yes," he replied and the man grabbed his arm immediately , he tried to shrug him off and saw Ronon stand up straight ready to jump in at a moment's notice.

"John Sheppard, you are under arrest," the man stated.

Shock ripped through John which only made him struggle harder. "What?" he exclaimed, the other two men were stepping in now. "I haven't done anything."

"Theft is a serious offence Mr Sheppard, one that won't be tolerated on this ship," he was informed and John's mind started racing trying to figure out when he might have done something that could be misunderstood as theft because as far as he knew he hadn't stolen anything. Absolutely nothing came to mind, he'd actually behaved himself unusually well over the last few days unless you counted... Elizabeth. That had to be it; she'd gone back to Simon worried that he'd do something drastic if he found out about them. He had to be behind this, somehow he must have found out. Ronon was preparing to jump into the fray which would only end with him being arrested as well.

"No Ronon," John shouted lessening his struggle so that he could shout back to Ronon whilst being dragged away. "It has to be Simon, find..."

His arm was given a good yank which cut him off before he could finish talking. He glared at the officer responsible allowing himself to be led away. He had no idea whether these officers were in on it with Simon or just doing their job, being played as much as John was. If it was the latter he didn't want to cause any trouble for them especially when it was only going to make things worse for him.

He was led through the corridors and down a few flights of stairs to a small room with pipes running in various directions. One of the officer s handcuffed him to the larger pipe and then put the keys on a table at the other side of the room out of John's reach. The man walked back over to him standing close enough that he could whisper to him without being overheard by the other officers.

"A message from Mr Wallace, you should have stayed away," the man told him and John pulled against the cuffs angrily to try and reach for the man. He was right, Simon was behind this, he'd found out about him and Elizabeth and John could only hope that she was okay.

* * *

Elizabeth sat on her bed next to her mother, Kavanaugh was in the room too and it was taking all of her efforts not to glare at the man. Simon was talking to one of the stewards; the young man had come to the room a few minutes ago to inform them that they had to go to the boat deck wearing their life jackets. It worried her, just before her argument with Simon she'd thought she felt a shudder through the ship but she'd been so busy being angry at Simon she'd forgotten about it until now.

"Is this really necessary?" Simon questioned, she could tell he wasn't pleased.

"Captain's orders sir," the crewman replied.

"Is there a problem?" Melinda asked standing up and walking across the room to stand beside Simon.

"I'm sure everything is fine ma'am, this is likely just a precaution," he told her. "I believe we've lightly scraped some ice, probably just a scratch to the hull, nothing to be concerned about."

"If there's nothing to be concerned about then why do we need to put our life jackets on and got to the boat deck?" Simon questioned.

"As I said sir it's probably just a precaution. Please excuse me I have other passengers to speak to," the steward stated and then left. Simon looked thoughtful for a moment as though he was trying to decide if they were going to go to the boat deck or not.

"I suppose there's no harm in going to the deck," Melinda said glancing at the life jackets sitting in a pile nearby. "But I don't see a need to where those."

"Alright," Simon said after a moment still reluctant "Let's go."

Elizabeth would have preferred to go and find John but she couldn't come up with an excuse to slip away fast enough. Simon held his arm out to her like he was a perfect gentleman. She didn't accept, instead she walked straight passed him toward the door. Her mother grabbed her arm before she could get there, turning her back around.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing?" she half hissed. "We talked about your behaviour."

"I do not need to be led to the deck mother," she replied, she was sick of people who should be on her side working against her all the time.

When they got to the deck there was already a crowd gathering but it was a cold night and people were slowly starting to head inside to wait for whatever was going to happen. There were a few of the ship's officers running about and from the look of it they were preparing the life boats. Steam was blowing out of the ship's huge funnels, the noise was almost deafening, people had to shout to be heard.

"Elizabeth," she heard Laura call and she saw her friend making her way through the crowd with Rodney and Carson. "Have you heard?" she questioned as she reached her.

"Heard what?" Elizabeth asked.

"We hit an ice berg," Laura told her and Elizabeth had to wonder where the woman constantly got her information. She was always one step ahead of everyone else no matter where they were or what was going on.

"Don't blow it out of proportion Mrs Beckett," Simon said in exasperation joining the conversation. Simon and Laura had been a clash of personalities from day one, Laura wasn't one to sit back and keep her mouth shut just because someone else didn't want to hear what she had to say. There was really nothing Simon could do about it either; he liked to keep up the public face he was always showing to everyone. "The steward said we simply scraped some ice, I'm sure we'll all be heading back to our rooms soon."

Laura glared at him a moment. "That's just what they're telling people, they don't want to start a panic."

"We just spoke to Officer Lorne," Carson continued. "Apparently it was a pretty bad hit; they've got Mr Andrews doing an inspection of the damage."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention please," one of the officers shouted. The noise from the funnel stopped then and the deck seemed almost eerily quiet. "That's better. I need you all to start making your way to the lifeboats in an orderly manner. Women and children first please."

Some of the crowd began moving forward, others seemed unconcerned, content to stay aboard the ship for a while longer. They probably wanted to avoid being sent out into the cold ocean air in nothing but a little boat. At least on the Titanic they had the option of going back inside to hide from the cold but once you were in one of those boats you were stuck. Elizabeth remembered what Laura had said about the boats a couple of days ago, that there weren't enough for everyone on board, only about half. She felt the knot that was starting to form in her stomach tighten.

* * *

Evan Lorne walked onto the bridge of the ship. Most of the crew, the officers included, were now tending to the passengers. The majority of them had no idea how severe the situation was, only some of the officer's, the captain and a few others knew just how bad it was. The Titanic was sinking, in just a couple of hours the ship would be at the bottom of the ocean. The boys in the wireless room were hard at work sending out distress calls and they could only hope they got lucky and another ship came to the rescue or a lot of people were going to go down with this ship.

That wasn't why he was on the bridge now though; he was there for a different reason. "What's this I'm hearing about a man being arrested in third class?" he questioned, there had been a name floating around with the rumour, it was the name that had gotten his attention.

It was another one of the officers that replied "John Sheppard, he was arrested for theft."

"Theft of what?" Lorne asked, something didn't add up to him.

"He stole from Simon Wallace, one of our first class passengers," the officer informed him and Lorne nodded his head slowly leaving the bridge once again. It didn't make sense to him, he'd spoken to John Sheppard earlier that day, he'd delivered a note to Miss Weir for him. He didn't know the man personally but he didn't think he was the type to steal, especially from the fiancé of the woman he seemed to be completely in love with.

There were more pressing concerns than someone being arrested for something they didn't do but he wasn't going to be able to let go of it until he'd gotten to the bottom of it. He needed to be on the boat deck helping to get passengers into the lifeboats and there was a good chance Miss Weir would be there, many of the first class passenger had already been told to gather on the boat deck. He walked along trying to pick her face out in the crowd and knowing it was unlikely he'd find her in it. John Sheppard would be locked up below decks though and if he was where Lorne suspected he was it wouldn't be long before the water flooding the ship reached him.

He was about to give up and return to his duties when he spotted her, she was standing with her usual group as the crowd either made their way inside or into the life boats. She was being ushered toward one of the boats but he could tell she didn't want to get on it and he had a pretty good idea why. He had to run to reach her in time; Wallace was distracted momentarily so he took his chance to talk to her pulling her away from her fiancé.

"Officer Lorne?" she questioned looking over to where Simon was stood talking to someone.

"I know it's really none of my business but I wanted to make sure you knew about Mr Sheppard," he explained, there was a chance that she already knew about his arrest, that he'd actually done what they said he had.

"What about him?" Elizabeth asked in concern, obviously she didn't know which just confirmed what he'd already thought. He glanced over at Wallace who was still talking to someone and paying no attention to them. Wallace had set Sheppard up, that had to be it.

"He was arrested a short while ago," he told her and watched the shock play over her face. "For theft, they said he stole something that belonged to Mr Wallace," he explained and saw the anger take over from shock on her face. "I can't be sure but if they took him where I think they would have he'll be on the lower decks," he informed her giving her a brief idea of where to go before nodding to her and running off to return to his job.

* * *

For a moment Elizabeth just felt stunned but that quickly faded and she decided what she was going to do, what she had to do. She looked over to her mother who was still waiting to board a boat, Simon was standing not far from her talking to Kavanaugh and the rest of their group were nearby as well. She turned around to leave, walking away from them and towards the nearest door. She repeated Lorne's instructions in her head to make sure she remembered where she was supposed to be going. A hand grabbed her arm and swung her back around bringing her face to face with Simon.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her angrily but her own anger was boiling up too.

"You had him arrested?" she questioned and watched realisation play across his face.

"You didn't really think you'd get away with it did you, that I wouldn't find out?" he questioned and she snapped her gaze toward Kavanaugh who was stood smugly a few steps behind Simon.

"I won't be your prisoner anymore," she told Simon. "If only all those business partners and rich friends of yours that you seem to value so much could see the real you, so low that you'd get a man arrested for something he didn't do."

"But he did do it, he stole my property... you, but I got you back and he's paying the price," Simon replied with the same smug look Kavanaugh had given her only ten times worse.

"I'm not yours, I never was and I never will be," she stated and pulled her arm free. He reached for her again, trying to grab her and pull her back but she didn't give him chance, she ran away as quickly as she could. She could hear him shouting, she heard her mother call her name but she didn't look back, just kept running allowing herself to disappear into the crowd.

She followed Lorne's instructions getting to the lower decks as quickly as she could. She found the final set of stairs she would have to go down; there was water there too, reaching part way up the stairs and filling half of the corridor below her. She hesitated only for a moment before remembering that John was no doubt trapped down here somewhere and if she didn't get him out soon he was going to drowned. She took a deep breath wishing she wasn't wearing the long flowing dress that had seemed like a good idea earlier. It was going to get heavy once it was wet and would do little to prevent her from getting cold.

She went down the last few stairs and into the water, the cold hitting her and she had to stop for a second. John, she reminded herself why she was down there and kept going forward calling his name as she walked down the corridor and hoping he was nearby, that he could hear her because the water level was still rising.

"John," she kept shouting and was fairly sure she was already losing feeling in the lower half of her body.

"Lizabeth," she heard him call back and sighed in relief, smiling despite the cold that felt like a thousand tiny needles stabbing at her skin. She called back to him again and he continued to shout for her, following his voice until she found him. He was handcuffed to a pipe at the other side of the room using another pipe to keep his body mostly out of the water. "Whatever they're saying I did, I didn't do it."

"I know," she replied as she waded through the water and kissed him hard on the lips. She touched the handcuffs frantically looking around her. "Where's the key?"

"It was on the table over there," he told gesturing over to the corner with a nod of his head. She followed his gesture, the table was floating and the keys were no where to be seen. She forced her body through the water to the corner looking down she could see a shape through it, praying it was the key she knelt down only just managing to keep her head above the water as she grabbed the key with the tips of her fingers.

She walked back over to John her whole body was shivering as she tried to undo the cuffs which only made it harder to get the key into the hole. Eventually the cuffs unlocked and John took them off quickly, grabbing Elizabeth's hands as he jumped down from the pipe into the water.

"God that's cold," he exclaimed without stopping as he moved toward the door pulling Elizabeth along with him. They reached the stairs pretty quickly considering they had to move through waist high water. John pushed Elizabeth onto the stairs in front of him and she was relieved when she finally stepped out of the water and onto the deck above. John was right behind her and once at the top he took her hand again as they made their way up through the ship to the boat deck.

Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to get on a boat with John and be away from the ship. If going below decks had told her anything it was that this ship was going to sink, it might be designed to withstand a lot and still stay a float but the iceberg had done more damage than the ship was capable of dealing with. If the flooding below wasn't evidence enough there was now an obvious slant in the deck, the ship was tipping forward. They joined the crowd gathered around one of the life boats, her heart sank when she heard the officer shout for women and children only. She turned to John; there was no way she was going without him.

"No," she told him and he had obviously learned to read her better than Simon or even her mother had because he knew straight away what she was saying.

"Elizabeth I'll be fine, I'll get a different one," he replied and she shook her head, if they were only letting women and children on this one then there was a chance it was the same for the others as well.

"I'm not leaving you," she stated.

"Elizabeth, you have to get on the boat," he told her, the order being echoed by another voice.

"Listen to him Elizabeth, you should get on the boat," Simon said as he appeared beside them, stepping out of the crowd and she moved closer to John.

"I'll be fine, get on the boat," John practically ordered her.

"I'm not going without you," she reiterated and Simon stepped forward again.

"I can get us both off the ship," he told her and she looked at him for a moment. "The same officer I used to have him arrested, he'll let me off the ship, I'll take John with me," he explained and his voice sounded so sincere Elizabeth was tempted to believe him.

"See, I'll be right behind you," John said and Elizabeth looked back at him, she still didn't want to leave him, if John was getting on another boat why couldn't she go with him? Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her away from him, it was one of the officers leading her to the lifeboat and before she could even think to protest she was being ushered on board. She took her seat turning back to look at John straight away as more of the passengers were helped to their own seats. A moment later the boat was being lowered, it started moving with a jerk that had her looking around before she met John's eyes again. He was getting further and further away, watching her lifeboat being lowered into the water from behind a railing with Simon by his side.

The closer she got to the water, the further she got from John the more she realised she couldn't do it. She could hear shouting and tore her eyes away from John, the lower deck was right in front of her almost level with the boat and with another quick glance at John she made her decision. She stood up ignoring the protests from the other passengers and the officer manning the boat and leaped for the Titanic. She caught the side of the ship, the barrier that kept passengers from falling over board and clung on tight. Someone grabbed her from the other side pulling her over and to safety. She thanked him before running toward the grand staircase, back to the boat deck.

She dodged her way passed people, apologising to the few she ran into until she came to the stairs. John was running down them having seen the jump she made from the boat and she ran straight to him burying her face in his shoulder and holding on to him for dear life. His arms went around her, holding her tightly as he kissed the side of her head.

"Are you insane?" he asked her as he pulled back. "Why would you do that?"

"I couldn't go," she told him still slightly out of breath from her jump and the following run through the ship. "I couldn't go," she repeated and John pulled her closer again, his hand going to the back of her head to hold her tightly. Suddenly and without any warning he released her from his hold and pushed her away from the stairs. She heard a loud bang at the same time but she didn't have time to turn around and see what it was before John grabbed her hand and pulled her after him.

They were part way down the stairs when she finally chanced a look upward to see Simon with a gun and if John wasn't pulling her along behind him she might have frozen still at the sight of him. She'd known he had a gun; he took the damn thing with him everywhere, for protection he'd always told her. Never had she thought he would fire it at a person, especially her but he didn't seem to care which of them he hit as long as he got at least one of them. They kept running down the stairs, following the grand staircase as the scene around them changed from first class to second class and then to third.

Before she could even realise how far they had run she was plunging back into the water. John pulled them away from the stairs, shots from Simon's gun still following them as they made their way to the nearest door wading through the water as fast as they could. A bullet hit the door near Elizabeth's head just as they were going through it, Simon was still following them as they ran down the corridor, the water level lowering as they moved to the back of the ship rather than the front.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

John ran down the corridor and down some stairs with Elizabeth right behind him, Simon was proving to be persistent but as they reached the bottom of the stairs he realised the gunshots had stopped. He stopped and looked back up the stairs prepared to run if the gun toting first class ass showed up but there was no sign of him. He didn't want to risk going up the way they came so he opted instead to head for the next set of stairs. The water in this part of the ship was only around his ankles but he didn't think for a second they were out of danger especially since part of the deck above had been flooded as well. He found some stairs, there was water trickling down them but it should be safe to go up there, if they waited any longer to find another way they might end up trapped.

He was about to send Elizabeth up when they heard shouting and turned around to find the source. A woman walked around the corner, a third class passenger from the looks of her, her blonde hair was soaked as were her clothes and she was calling names, two of them. John looked back at the stairs, the trickle of water was getting faster, a sure sign that it wouldn't be safe to go up here for much longer.

"We can't leave her here John," Elizabeth pointed out what he already knew and he ran toward the woman, keeping Elizabeth close to him.

"Please," the woman called when she saw them "You have to help me find my children."

"It's alright, we're going to help you," Elizabeth reassured her. "What are their names?"

"Eliza and Jeremy," she half cried. "Please they are only babies."

"Alright, we'll check down this way," John told the woman well aware that the water around his feet was getting higher. "Why don't you check these few rooms here?"

The woman nodded, calming herself down as she went down the corridor shouting her children's names. John did the same in the opposite direction; he kept hold of Elizabeth's hand as he moved along the corridor. He stopped when he heard more shouting, the children calling back for them and he followed the sound as fast as he could into one of the small rooms. The children were sitting on the top bunk of a bed, probably to keep out of the water which was now moving up to John's knees, the two of them looked terrified. The boy looked to be about eight and the girl couldn't be older than four.

"It's alright, we're gonna get you out of here, your mothers waiting for you outside," he told them reaching his arms up. Jeremy helped his sister to slide off the bed and into John's arms; he handed her to Elizabeth quickly and then got Jeremy down. The four of them left the room shouting for the mother who appeared from one of the other rooms.

"John," Elizabeth said, the fear in her voice made him turn around to see what she was looking at. Two doors, closed and barely holding back a corridor full of water that was already starting to seep through, he could tell it wasn't going to hold much longer and when it broke it was going to send a wave of water crashing after them. There was no time for the tearful reunion the mother wanted, instead he ushered everyone to the stairs putting the boy down and telling him to run to the top. The mother went up second just as the doors crashed open and the water came straight for them.

John pushed Elizabeth onto the stairs still carrying the little girl but he didn't have time to get onto them himself. The water hit him, pushing him away from the stairs and washing him down the corridor. He struggled to keep his head up, the force of water knocking him about as it dragged him through the corridor with it.

He had to stop himself or he was going to die here, he looked around him frantically spotting some more stairs just before his head went underwater again. When he resurfaced he reached out grabbing the corner of the wall pulling himself back toward the stairs. He heard a voice and looked around to see someone else in the water and it didn't take him long to realise it was Elizabeth. He grabbed her arm with his free hand as she passed him and she swung into the wall next to him. Hoping he hadn't dislocated her shoulder when he grabbed her he pulled her into the stair well with him.

The water level was already above their heads and they had to swim under some piping to get to the stairs where they climbed up to the gate at the top. Elizabeth tried to open the gate but it didn't move and she shook it almost violently as though she thought that might help.

"It's locked," she shouted and he could hear the fear in her voice as the water reached their feet again. Someone ran passed, a steward if the uniform was anything to go by and they both shouted to him making him stop before he ran up the next flight of stairs to the relative safety of the next deck. "Please help."

The steward looked reluctant and John couldn't entirely blame him but the man turned back grabbing his keys and fumbling with them as he tried to find the right one. He was shaking and fumbling so much that he dropped them in the water which was now reaching up to their waists. He looked down and then back at them shaking his head in fear.

"I'm sorry," he said as he turned back to the stairs disappearing up them despite their calls.

John wasted no time in reaching into the water, his hand searching blindly for the keys. He finally found them and stood back up trying to figure out which one was right. Elizabeth helped him, the two of them looking through the dozens of keys attached together until they found one they thought was right. They were only going to get one chance so John said a silent prayer as he tried to guide the key into the lock, it was too hard to do from that angle and the water was now around their necks. He dipped his head below the surface; giving himself better access to the lock and finally managing to open it. Elizabeth shoved the gates open and the two of them swam for the stairs, relieved to reach a dry deck again and opting to head toward the stern to try and find a way up.

* * *

This was John's deck; his quarters weren't far from where they were so he had a good idea where the nearest stairs were. He headed that way, the water wouldn't be far behind him and he was dismayed to see people still on this deck, men, women and children who still hadn't headed up the boat deck. It seemed to take forever to get to the stairs and when he finally reached them he saw Ronon and Teyla, both of them looking angry.

"Guys," John called and they both turned around smiling when they saw him.

"John, you're alright," Teyla said in relief. "What happened, why did they arrest you?"

"Simon," was all the explanation John gave, it was all the explanation they had time for. He looked up at the stairs, there were several other passengers gathered around them but the gates at the top was locked and the two stewards on the other side were refusing to open them. "Not letting us through?" he questioned with a nod in the direction of the gate.

"No," Ronon replied "The idiots are apparently waiting for orders to let us out."

"They're not going to get orders, they probably forgot about it completely. The deck below this one is already completely flooded, part of this one too," John told them.

"I'm guessing that's where you two just came from," Ronon stated looking at both him and Elizabeth; they were soaked from head to toe from their swim through the lower deck.

"Long story," John replied and finally let go of Elizabeth's hand to walk up the stairs. He manoeuvred his way to the front of the crowd where one of the stewards, probably the one in charge, was yelling at the passengers to get back.

"Open the gate," John ordered and the steward turned his yelling on him now, telling him to get back and wait. "Listen to me, the water is already starting to flood this deck, let us through," he explained and the steward paused for a moment as a fear swept through the group of people behind him.

"Go back down and try the other stairwells, we can't let you through until we get orders," the steward almost yelled at him and John could tell he wasn't going to get anywhere with this guy. He turned around trying to figure something out when he saw the bench nearby, he ran over and started pulling at it but it was attached to the deck.

"Ronon, give me a hand," he called and the big guy came over to help as did two other men who were stuck there as well. Elizabeth and Teyla were getting the other passengers out of the way, clearing a path to the gate. The bench finally ripped free and the four men adjusted their hold on it so they could charge the gate. On the count of three they ran forward, the bench hitting the gate and almost bouncing off it but it had done some damage. The stewards were shouting for them to stop but they charged the gate again. The impact damaged the bench as well as the gate but with a third charge the bench went through, breaking the gate enough for them to get through.

They couldn't pull the bench back so they dropped it where they were. Ronon climbed over immediately and John helped Teyla and Elizabeth to get over the bench, Ronon helping them down at the other side. He jumped over behind them once again taking Elizabeth's hand as the four of them headed up the ship.

When they reached the boat deck it was already obvious that most if not all of the boats were gone, in the time it had taken them to get away from Simon and make their way back up the ship they had all been launched. The deck was still full of people though and there were a lot more still inside the ship.

"We'll check the other side," Teyla shouted, she and Ronon disappeared around a corner in search of lifeboats while John ran up the deck.

"Wait," Elizabeth called stopping suddenly and John turned to her. She let go of his hand and ran over to someone, a man he didn't recognise. "Carson," she called as she went over to him. John was right behind her, he looked down at the deck, the slant was more than obvious now, the entire ship had tipped forward and looking further down the deck he could actually see the water.

"Elizabeth, what are you still doing here, you should have left the ship ages ago," he said to her and she gave him a small smile.

"I've been a little busy," she told him "Where's Laura?"

"On one of the lifeboats, it took some convincing but she finally agreed to get on one without me. I had to tell her I was getting on one at the other side of the ship, that one of the officer's was letting men on but it would be easier if she was already gone. I really hate lying to her. I haven't seen Rodney in a while though," Carson explained and though John hated to break up the reunion the water was creeping further up the deck.

"We really have to move, we need to stay aboard the ship as long as possible," he stated and they both turned their attention to him.

"To the stern then?" Carson questioned. The three of them made their way to the back of the ship unfortunately most people seemed to have had the same idea. The closer to the back they got the more crowded it became, everyone was moving so slowly but John had a feeling there wasn't enough time. He pushed through the crowd, his hand holding Elizabeth's tightly to pull her through and he occasionally glanced back to make sure Carson was still with them. With the back of the ship rising more and more, the deck became steeper making it hard to walk along it.

"John," he heard Ronon shout, the big man was standing at the stern of the ship, holding onto the railing with his arm around Teyla keeping her there with him. He made his way there, walking up the steep deck and pulling Elizabeth with him. He dragged her up to him and helped her walk forward; Ronon reached out and grabbed her hand pulling her up so she could grab the rail before reaching for John and Carson.

They all held onto the rail at the back of the ship, around them people were clinging to whatever they could. Some were giving up and jumping from the back maybe hoping they could swim to the lifeboats that had to be floating nearby. Over the railing John could see someone jump, they fell the considerable to distance to the water, their body hitting the propeller blade on the way down and John was fairly sure it had killed him or at least knocked him out. One the deck people were losing the struggle to hold on falling down the ship.

John held onto Elizabeth, keeping his arm around her so that she wouldn't be one of those that fell. Beside him Ronon and Teyla were holding on to the rail as well and Carson was doing the same on the other side. The knowledge that they were all going down with the ship was terrifying and only now had he allowed it to really hit him.

The ship jerked suddenly and John once again tightened his hold on Elizabeth. It did it again and John looked down the ship trying to figure out what was happening. The ship suddenly fell back and though he couldn't see it he could hear people nearby shouting that she ship was breaking in half. The weight at the back was obviously too much for the bow to handle and without warning the lights went out and they were all plunged into darkness. Only the light from the moon and the stars helped them to see and there weren't a considerable amount of stars out that night. The stern of the ship quickly fell back into the water resting there for a moment before it started rising back up.

"We have to move," Ronon called letting go of Teyla and climbing over the railing. He reached immediately for Teyla and pulled her over as well before moving to help Elizabeth do the same. The ship was almost vertical when John and Carson climbed over with a little help from Ronon, Teyla and Elizabeth. Straight below them was the water, the ship bobbing there vertically for several eerie moments before it started plunging into the water. Elizabeth was gripping his hand tightly as the water came closer and closer, this was it.

"We're gonna get sucked under with the ship," John told them all, shouting to be heard above the noise. "Hold on to each other and kick for the surface."

Ronon, Teyla and Carson linked hands, resting their joined hands on the metal railing for balance. John grabbed hold of Ronon and looked to where he was already holding onto Elizabeth. The water was just beneath them now, a roaring sound filing the air as the ship fell below it.

"Take a deep breath at the last second," Carson called his voice barely audible. "Now!"

The last part of the Titanic went under the water, the entire ship submerged and taking any passengers still on board or anywhere nearby with it. John took a deep breath just before he plunged into the dark water, the suction from the ship pulling him deeper under.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Note: Second to last chapter here guys and it's a big one. I really hope you guys enjoy it!**

Chapter 7

Teyla took a deep breath, her lungs begging for air as she surfaced. The cold air was almost as much of an assault on her as body as the water had been and she couldn't stop her body from shivering. She looked to her side, Carson had come up with her their hands still joined but she'd lost the others. They'd been getting pulled around under water and she hadn't been able to keep her grip on Ronon's hand. She was terrified for them, she had no idea if they'd even come back up after the ship had sunk never mind where they were now, she could only hope they were all together.

"Where are the others?" Carson asked looking around him but not letting go of Teyla. They were surrounded by panicked people, many of them screaming and splashing around in the water, fighting each other for pieces of driftwood.

"I don't know," Teyla replied shouting to be heard above all the noise. She couldn't see them anywhere and she was struggling to keep her head above the water especially with everyone splashing around near her. They had to move, maybe find something to hold onto until the lifeboats came back. "Come on," she called releasing Carson's hand so she could swim properly but glancing at him constantly to be sure he was still with her.

Someone grabbed her, a hand clamping down on her shoulder and pushing her under the water. She struggled to hold her breath, shock not letting her react quickly enough but she surfaced again a moment later. She took a deep breath, her head was out of the water long enough for her to realise it was a panicked passenger, a man who was trying to stay above the water using whatever was nearby, unfortunately for her she was the only thing he could get to.

"Let her go," Carson shouted attempting to push the man off without hurting him but he was knocked back and Teyla went under the water again.

When she surfaced once more she threw her elbow back and felt it connect with his face. His hold on her slackened enough for her to shrug him off and swim to Carson. He grabbed her and pulled her toward him, she had never met Carson before a few minutes ago but she wasn't prepared to lose him now. She only knew his name because they'd traded names just moments before the ship had broken in half. They'd had a very brief conversation that at the very least had taken their minds of the fact that they were about to sink for a few seconds. They both swam away finding a piece of wood large enough for them both to grip onto. It looked like it had been part of a table, washed off the ship when it sank. They moved to opposite sides, pulling themselves half out of the water and into the cold night air.

"Do you think the others are alright?" she asked even knowing that there was no way for Carson to know.

"I hope so," Carson replied.

The boats had to come back for them, there were so many people in the water there was no way they could let them all die. The again, if any boat came back now it would be swamped by panicked people. Some of them didn't seem to care if another person got hurt, they just wanted to be safe, to get out of the water before they drowned or froze to death. If the people in the boats knew that too, and she didn't doubt that they did, they wouldn't want to come anywhere near here.

The thought didn't fill her with much hope; she decided it would be best not to think like that. She had to believe help was coming, if not from the life boats then from another ship, surely distress calls would have been sent out, help had to be on the way. She clung to that thought as fiercely as she held onto the wood she was floating on.

* * *

John was frantic as he surfaced, he'd lost Elizabeth under the water and as he looked around him he couldn't see her. He still had hold of Ronon, the big man let go of him as he too searched around them and John realised that Teyla and Carson were missing as well. There was a chance that Teyla and Carson were together, they'd been holding onto each other but Elizabeth would be alone, she'd only been holding onto John. He cursed himself for not keeping hold of her better as he continued to search around him.

"I don't see any of them," Ronon said his eyes scanning the panicked people that were flailing around everywhere.

"Neither do I," John replied.

"Wait," Ronon said and John turned to him following his eyes. "That's Elizabeth," he said pointing ahead of them and John saw her then. She was trying to swim through the crowd being knocked around by the panicked passengers she was trying to get passed. One man grabbed hold of her, shouting in panic but Elizabeth pushed him off. John shouted for her but she couldn't hear him so he swam toward her.

"Elizabeth," he called again once he was closer and she looked around seeing him swimming toward her. He grabbed her arm as she got near him and pulled her to him, holding onto her like he should have done under the water.

"We need to find something to hold on," Ronon said as he joined them his eyes were still searching for Teyla and Carson. They moved away from where they were, there was a clearing in the people and a piece of wood floating around in it. It was the back board of a bed, a first class one if the size was anything to go by and the three of them took hold of it. The weight of all three of them made it tip up so Ronon moved around the other side balancing out it out.

John took hold of Elizabeth's hand keeping them rested on the wood and she moved closer to him in the water. "Don't you wish you'd stayed in the lifeboat now?" he questioned humorously fighting against the shivers in his body. Elizabeth smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood, she was shivering more than he was and he wished he could do something for her. They were all soaked, floating in freezing cold water with their head, shoulders and arms in the cold night air.

"We just need to wait for the boats to come back," Ronon stated he was still looking around him. John knew the boats had to be nearby somewhere, whether they were coming back was another question but for now he was going to believe that they were. There were officer's on the boats and hopefully they'd feel a duty to the people that hadn't made it off the ship before it had sunk, hopefully they'd come back despite the danger it would pose to them. He knew there would be people who didn't want to take the risk, who would argue for not coming back here when they would likely be swamped but maybe they would be over ruled by the people who wanted to do the right thing.

There was an officer in the water nearby; he started blowing his whistle calling for the boats to return as though it had been part of a plan. The boats would leave to avoid the suction from the ship sinking and then return to pick up the people that had been left behind. John could see someone floating in the crowd, the form wasn't moving and the face was down in the water, a victim the ship had already claimed. He could only hope that help arrived before he joined a list of names that was probably already far too long.

* * *

A few of the boats had managed to come together and they'd just floated their in the water watching what happened. They'd seen the ship sinking, the stern rising so far out of the water; it was something they would never see again. It looked like the ship had split in half but he couldn't be entirely sure because the lights had gone out at the same time. Even in the dark Lorne had seen the form of the ship go vertical in the water, just floating there until it had sunk beneath the surface taking a lot of people with it. There had still been officers aboard the ship he was sure, he'd been told to man one of the lifeboats and so he'd gotten off the ship not long before it had sunk.

Now the passengers and the officers of the three lifeboats that had found each other in the dark were arguing. The shock of watching the ship go down had worn off leaving everyone able to voice their opinions. Many people didn't want to go anywhere near the passengers that hadn't been so fortunate as to get off the ship in time. They were afraid and Lorne supposed it was for good reason, there had to be over a thousand people in the water, all of them scared and panicking, if they went back they'd be swamped. Still, those people needed help or they were going to freeze to death and Lorne wasn't the type of person who could sit here and watch that happen. He'd been fortunate, he'd had a job to do which had taken him off the ship and though he'd stayed aboard to help for as long as he could he had to admit he was glad he hadn't been on board when it sank.

"We can't just leave those people," Mrs Beckett shouted, Lorne had met Laura a few times since the ship had left England. She was a fiery person, a woman who wasn't afraid to voice her opinions and argue her point no matter how many people she was fighting against. Hence why she was leading the argument to go back and help the people in the water. He was manning the boat she had boarded and he's seen her leave her husband behind. Mr Beckett had told her he was getting on a boat at the other side of the ship, he'd had to work hard to convince her to get aboard the boat but Lorne knew that most of the officers were sticking to the women and children first rule knowing the men would generally last a little longer in the water. It was possible that Beckett was on one of the other lifeboats but it was more likely that he was in the water.

"If we go back they'll swamp us and we'll all end up in the water with them," someone shouted and Lorne was ashamed to see it was an officer.

"It's not worth the risk," one of the passengers said, a woman who had also left her husband behind.

"There's too many of them, we can't save them all and we can't risk them pulling us over," another woman said. She was on one of the other boats and he couldn't recall her from the number of people he'd helped onto the lifeboats. She was with three children though; one of them no more than two years old and he could understand why she didn't want to take the risk.

"Some of those people are our families," Laura shouted playing the emotion card to try and get some agreement. "Husbands, fathers, sons in some cases," she added looking around at the people on the boats.

"She's right," someone agreed with her.

"We don't even know if our families are still alive," yet another passenger stated.

"But you're willing to let other people's families die?" a man questioned and it took Lorne a moment to place him. Laura's friend, the cocky, arrogant one that apparently had a heart of gold underneath it all... Rodney McKay.

"That's enough," Lorne called getting involved now, the longer this argument went on the more people were going to die before they could get back there to help. It would take some time and a number of the people in the water would be dead before they could get there. As bad as it sounded it meant that there would be less people to swamp the boat and maybe they could actually save some lives when they went back. "Mrs Beckett is right, we can't leave those people."

"But..," someone began to protest but Lorne didn't have the time to argue about it.

"Listen, I want to move all the passengers from this boat into those ones and I need the blankets from them in this one," he ordered and one of the officers who hadn't argued for against going back pulled the boats closer together and tied them up so they'd be steady enough to move passengers. People started moving around, the passengers from his boat moving across to the others with some help and Lorne looked at the officers he had with him. "You two," he shouted. "Move over to this boat, I'm going to need some help when we go back."

Both men nodded and switched boat; there were three officers and a steward on his boat who nodded when Lorne looked at him questioningly, he would go back and help as well. . That would be enough people to go back with; he couldn't take too many because he'd need all the room he could get for the people back there.

"I want to go back with you," Laura said as she stepped across the boat to him and Lorne shook his head.

"No ma'am," he replied and cut her off before she could make the protests he knew were coming. "I need all the space on the boat, every person that goes back with us takes up space that a person from the water can't."

She nodded her head reluctantly, understanding his reasons and stepped over to the boat that had her friend in it. She sat down next to him and it had to be the only time that Lorne had seen them not bickering with each other. He'd thought they hated each other when he'd first seen them but he'd been told that they were actually friends, it was an interesting friendship but who was he to judge.

He looked to where the ship had sunk; he could hear the screams, shouts and cries of the people in the water. They were all terrified, waiting for help that that they couldn't even be sure was coming. He had to hurry this up; the longer this took the more of them were going to die before he could get there.

* * *

Teyla could barely feel her legs; she was tempted to reach down just to ensure herself they were still there. The top half of her wasn't fairing much better but since she'd gotten it out of the water not long after it had gone in she wasn't doing too badly. She had no illusions that she wasn't going to freeze to death along with everyone else if help didn't come soon but at least for now she was holding out. Carson was in the same condition as she was, since they'd started floating here she'd learned that he was a doctor, his money came from his family, he had a wife named Laura who should be safe aboard the life boats and a lot of other stuff that she wouldn't normally know about a person she hadn't known for very long. She'd told him about herself as well, she had gone to England a month ago, her father was dead and she'd never known her mother.

It had just been abut making conversation, anything to try and take their minds off the cold and numbness. She was still shivering but her body was running out of energy to keep doing it and she was fairly sure her hand was frozen to the wood but she didn't really want to test the theory just yet. Her skin looked blue and she hadn't actually thought that people could turn this blue, blue lips maybe, a blue tinge to parts of the body possibly but her entire self was actually blue.

She was still worried about Ronon, people were beginning to succumb to the cold water and she had no way to know if he was one of them. John and Elizabeth could be gone too, there was just no way to know but for now she had to concentrate on herself and Carson, it was the only thing she could do. She moved her head, the muscles in her neck stiff and tired and it felt like it just wasn't worth the effort to bother moving.

"You're not asleep are you Carson?" she questioned and the man moved his head, lifting it from the wood to look at her.

"No love, I'm awake," he replied and she smiled slightly, as much as her stiff, tired and frozen muscles would allow her to.

"Good because if you go to sleep I'll have no one to talk to," she told him and he returned her smile. He lifted his hand from the wood which confirmed Teyla's theory that her own was frozen in place, he had to move slowly, pealing his hand from the wood carefully so he didn't end up tearing his skin and she winced at it.

"I am so not moving mine," she said still watching him.

"I'd do it now before it get's stuck there anymore than it already is," Carson stated and she grimaced as she looked down at her hand. She'd moved the other one several times so it hadn't been to badly attached to the ice forming on the wood but this one was gonna hurt. She started lifting it knowing immediately that she'd been right because her hand didn't actually move. She pulled at it more slowly, forcing her skin to let go of the wood a little bit at a time until her hand was free.

"I'm not doing that again, if I'm frozen to the wood when help comes they'll just have to bring the thing with me," she said with a half serious smile, if she kept moving then hopefully that wouldn't happen again.

"Maybe we won't be in the water that much longer," Carson stated hopefully and Teyla looked out to where the life boats probably were. If they were coming back then where were they? It had been ages since the ship had sunk and there was no sign of help coming for them.

* * *

The screaming had stopped a while ago, panic had calmed once people ran out of energy to keep it up. People were dying now, between the cold air and the even colder water most of them had frozen to death. John moved his head; he could see the officer that until a short while ago had still been whistling for the boats. He was dead now, unmoving and frozen; the whistle was still in his mouth. He looked at Elizabeth, she was floating next to him with her hand still held in his and he wondered for a moment if they were gonna be stuck like that. Her head was resting on the back of her other hand, laid on the wood with her eyes closed.

"Hey," he said, his raspy voice barely made it passed his lips. Elizabeth opened her eyes, frost coating her eyelashes and her hair which was probably frozen into place now. It took her a moment to focus on him, her mind and body too tired for the effort. "Hang in there."

She nodded her head. "It feels like we've been here forever."

"They just have to get the boats organised," he told her, it was hard to speak with his body shivering so much. "They'll be here soon."

"It's so quiet," she whispered, her voice was as raspy as his own.

He couldn't respond to that, it was very quiet now but that was because most of the people around them were dead. John looked at Ronon, his friend had barely spoken in a while and for a second John thought he might have joined the growing list of dead. Ronon moved though, shifting his arms to try and find some form of comfort even in the freezing water.

"You alright Ronon?" he asked, it was a stupid question but he just wanted the reassurance of hearing him answer, hearing him talk.

"I'm alive," Ronon responded sarcasm in his raspy voice as he looked over at John and Elizabeth. John knew he was thinking about Teyla, with everyone dying around them the thought that Teyla and Carson might not have made it was a very realistic possibility. If the boats were actually coming back for them then there was no sign of them and Elizabeth was right, they'd been in the water for a long time now. "When we get out of this I'm gonna make White Star Line very sorry they didn't put enough lifeboats on board for everyone."

"You're not the only one," John replied shifting to try and lift himself further out of the water, it did little to help.

* * *

Elizabeth was beginning to lose faith in the notion that the lifeboats were coming back for them. John and Ronon were both silent, it had been a while since any of them had spoken and Elizabeth wasn't even sure she'd still be able to. It felt like her body was already frozen, the few times she'd tried to move the effort had been too much, her muscles too stiff. She lifted her head, the move expending more energy than she had to give. Ronon offered her a small barely there smile to let her know he was still with them. John didn't move.

"John?" she tried to say, her voice barely audible. "John?" she tried again forcing her voice out but he still didn't move.

"John," Ronon's voice came, it was slightly louder than her own but not by much. John still didn't move so she shook his hand which was still holding her own, still nothing.

"John, come on," she said shaking his hand more violently but she still got no response from him. She pried her hand free from his, having to use her other hand to pull the frozen limbs apart so that she could grab John's shoulder and turn him to her. His eyes were closed and he still wasn't responding, she shook him again, saying his name as loud as her voice would allow her too. "John, open your eyes," she pleaded with him still shaking his shoulders. As if he'd heard her, he opened his eyes but there was no focus in them.

"Sheppard, snap out of it," Ronon called from across the other side of the wood.

"John," Elizabeth said trying to get his attention. "John, I swear if you die then I'm going to die too. I mean it, I'll just float around here in the water until I freeze to death, I don't care if the lifeboats come back."

John looked at her, focus coming into his eyes and she pulled herself closer to him. "I'm here," he told her and she put her forehead to his taking hold of his hand on the wood again. They weren't going to last much longer, she could barely move, barely even breath in the cold. She felt tired and drained, all she wanted to do was go to sleep but she knew that if she did that would be the end, there would be no coming back from it.

There was no sound around them now, no one was moving, crying or speaking. If anyone else was still alive then there was no way to know anymore. They were surrounded by frozen bodies now, hundreds of passengers that a few hours ago had been alive and going about their business, unaware of what was about to happen, that soon they'd be dead.

"I'm still glad I got off the lifeboat," she whispered to John, answering his earlier question that he'd only meant as a joke, at least only half meant as a joke. His hand tightened around her almost imperceptibly and she said a silent prayer that help got there soon or there'd be three more bodies amongst the hundreds of others.

* * *

The boat moved silently through the water, the men didn't make a sound as they looked at the bodies around them. The men with the ores were being careful, trying not to hit any of the bodies they were passing through. The third man was checking people hoping to find someone alive but only finding more and more dead. Lorne felt a knot forming in his stomach, they had taken too long, they were too late.

Lorne cursed under his breath as he looked at the hundreds of bodies around him, there had to have been a thousand people in the water and now they couldn't find any of them alive. He'd known they needed to be faster; he'd been able to hear the cries and shouts getting quieter and quieter. He shined his torch across the water, watching for any sign of movement but finding none. He felt like he was moving through a graveyard except the dead weren't buried, they were right in front of him, there for all to see.

He had to close his eyes as he passed a group of bodies huddled together, a woman and a man holding onto each other and two children, boys, in between them. He opened his eyes again taking a closer look at the bodies, hoping that just maybe they were alive but like all the others they were dead. He knew there had to be more children out there; it wasn't just the men and women that had lost their lives. The children would have been the first to succumb to the cold, their small bodies not able to hold up against the freezing water for very long.

"Movement," one of the officers shouted and Lorne followed the point of his hand, shining the torch that way. There was a man holding onto what looked like a deck chair, his red hair was covered in ice and frost and he looked barely with them as he tried to wave his hand at them, tried to get attention. He didn't even have to order his men to turn in that direction they were already going and he helped one of them pull the man from the water.

Another man had grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around the freezing survivor. The poor man couldn't stop shivering, he could barely move his body and Lorne wasn't entirely sure that he was going to survive even now that he was out of the water but at least now he had a chance.

"My wife," the man stuttered, his teeth chattering together and Lorne looked back into the water. There was a woman, blonde hair and blue eyes that had been holding onto the same piece of wood. She was dead though, her blue eyes staring back at him lifelessly and Lorne felt thek not in his stomach twist almost painfully. He should have been faster, even just a few minutes and some of these people might still be alive.

"I'm sorry," Lorne said looking back at the man. He had to avert his eyes again as the man broke down in front of him, clinging to the blanket and burying his face into it as he cried his loss.

They hadn't been prepared for this, the ship builders, the White Star Line, they'd been complacent. They'd thought they'd built an indestructible ship, that the design would keep them afloat through anything. There hadn't been enough life boats, no protocols put in place that would help the crew deal with an emergency despite the lack of lifeboats aboard. They'd had to go on general protocols, things that all White Star Line employees were taught to do in emergencies. Fill the lifeboats, call for help over the wireless, they hadn't even had the right type of flares to signal distress to any nearby ships. If there had been a little more time, a few more lifeboats, the right flares, anything, then maybe they wouldn't have lost so many people tonight.

They started moving through the water again, calling out to any survivors that they might miss. They passed the body of an officer; he was with a group of passengers, all of them holding onto a table top but none of them alive. There were a couple of stewards not far from them, employees that had gone down with the ship and he imagined many of them had been trying to help people until the end. They kept moving and Lorne could only hope they found more than one survivor.

* * *

Elizabeth was tired, too tired, she could barely keep her eyes open now and all she wanted was to sleep. She almost didn't care anymore if she woke up or not, all she could think was how badly she needed to sleep. She thought she saw a light pass across the water but quickly dismissed it and closed her eyes, she needed to sleep.

"Boat," she heard Ronon say, his voice was barely above a whisper and it took her mind far too long to realise what he'd said, to understand it. She opened her eyes again and lifted her head from the wood, it was a slow movement, her neck protesting against it but she managed. John and Ronon tried to shout to the boat but neither of them was loud enough to be heard. The boat was moving away from them and if they didn't get its attention soon their one chance at surviving would be gone.

Ronon was trying to make noise, banging his fist on the wood and in the water but the boat had moved to far for that now. She could still hear someone aboard it shouting, calling out but the voice was fading away. Her eyes landed on the officer nearby, even dead he was still holding onto the deck chair that had kept him afloat and the whistle was still in his mouth. Without a word she pushed herself off the wood dropping herself entirely into the water, the cold assaulting the small part of her that had been held up by the wood.

John and Ronon called to her and even as close as she was she could barely hear them, there was no way the people aboard the lifeboat were ever going to notice them. She swam across the distance between where they had been floating and where the officer was. She had to push the body of another passenger out of her way and she had to ignore the irrational guilt the action caused. She reached the officer and pulled the whistle from his mouth using every bit of energy she had left to blow it.

The sound ripped through air breaking the quiet and finally gaining the attention of the people on the boat. They shouted to her, the light from a torch skimming across the water until it found her and even then she didn't stop blowing the whistle. The boat stopped and came back toward her and she had to tell herself it was alright, they were coming now and she could stop. She dropped the whistle and let go of the deck chair once again dropping into the water. She didn't have the energy to swim back to John and Ronon so she stayed where she was barely keeping her head up above the water.

It felt like forever before the boat got to her and two hands reached down grabbing her arms and pulling her out of the water. She couldn't even describe the relief she felt once she was in the boat, a thick blanket being wrapped around her to try and protect her from the cold night air.

"The others," she said through chattering teeth trying to point back into the water.

"What others?" the man wrapping the blanket around her questioned and she realised it was Officer Lorne.

"John and Ronon are still in the water," she told him, breathing in fast shallow breaths trying to stop her entire body from shivering worse than it had in the water. She got her arm free from the blanket and pointed toward the wood they had been using to keep them afloat.

"I see them," Lorne replied with a relieved smile and ordered his men to head that way. He wrapped the blanket around her again and another man helped her move to the side of the boat to make room for the others. There was another man there; he too was wrapped in a blanket but obviously soaking wet underneath.

A minute later Ronon was being pulled from the water and wrapped up while Lorne and another officer got John onto the boat. They barely had time to wrap him in a blanket before he was trying to cross the boat to her. Lorne helped him as the boat started moving again and John dropped down beside her, she let herself fall to the side, leaning into him and holding back tears of relief. He shifted around to get his arm free and wrapped it around Elizabeth taking half the blanket with it so it was actually around them both. He tried to pull her close but there was no energy left in his body so his arm just laid around her.

"It's alright," he whispered, his lips against her hair as he spoke. "We're out, we're both out."

"I'm out too you know," Ronon managed to choke out in his raspy voice and Elizabeth managed the tiniest hint if a smile, she had no energy left for anything else.

Lorne was calling out again trying to find survivors among the hundreds of dead. Someone else was reaching out into the water to check the bodies they came close to and occasionally Elizabeth got a glimpse of lifeless eyes and frozen bodies. She'd seen a lot of them around her before but as they kept moving further from where they'd been in the water and they kept finding dead bodies she realised just how many people must have died.

"Stop," Lorne said gesturing to the two men rowing the boat who stilled immediately and Elizabeth couldn't quite see what they were all looking at in the water. "There," Lorne said pointing to where his flash light was shining and Elizabeth guessed he'd found another survivor. The boat started moving in that direction and a few minutes later another survivor was being pulled aboard.

"Teyla," John said trying and failing to sit up straighter. Ronon somehow found the energy that John hadn't been able to and with what looked like a massive effort he sat up and shrugged off the blanket. Teyla was bundled up and moved out of the way as someone else was pulled aboard. She saw Ronon and dropped herself next to him burying her face into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. The steward who had been helping her grabbed Ronon's blanket and wrapped it around the shivering man once again before leaving him and Teyla alone.

The other survivor was helped to get more comfortable as well and when he sat down across from her Elizabeth realised it was Carson. She sighed in relief, they'd all made it, all five of them had been rescued from the water and if they could live through the next few hours then they'd be fine. She relaxed against John again, allowing a few silent tears to fall, as time had passed she'd started losing hope that any of them would live, now it looked like all of them might.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Note (Hannah554): Last chapter guys, please take the time to read the note at the bottom when you've finished reading. Thanks for reading and for all the great reviews. **

Chapter 8

The Carpathia had been picking lifeboats up for a while when it finally picked up the one with John aboard. The survivors from the water were still wrapped up in blankets to keep the cold air away from them. John could still feel his wet clothes sticking to his body but at least he'd stopped shivering. He helped Elizabeth and Teyla to step off the lifeboat and onto the deck of the Carpathia before doing it himself. It was almost as much of a relief to be out of the lifeboat as it had been to get out of the water. Once Ronon and Carson joined them they were ushered away to where the third class survivors were being taken care of.

There were stewards and officers from the Carpathia as well as the Titanic taking down names and helping people to find out if loved ones were aboard or not. People were crying, grieving for those they believed to be lost or desperately trying to find them in the hopes they'd been on a different boat or were on another ship. There were some unused benches near the railing so they headed that way sitting down before someone else could take them.

"Maybe we should find out if they have some dry clothes we can change into, at least until ours are dry," Teyla suggested shifting uncomfortably underneath her blanket.

"I think they're a little too busy at the moment," John said looking around him; there wasn't a single crewman or officer that wasn't doing something to help the surviving Titanic passengers. "We should wait until things calm down."

"I'm going to go and find Laura, she doesn't even know I'm alive," Carson stated as he watched a young woman desperately beg an officer to help her find her husband. The officer was trying to tell her that he didn't have the man's name on a list yet but he'd keep an eye open for it. Another woman was in tears as she searched around asking people if they'd seen her husband and teenage son, she was describing them to everyone but no one had seen them.

Elizabeth hugged Carson before he left and then sat back down next to John and leant her head on his shoulder. They were all tired; none of them had been able to sleep aboard the lifeboat that had rescued them. There had been three other survivors pulled from the water, the red haired man who had cried himself to sleep and not woken up until the Carpathia had picked them up. Another man who hadn't said a single word the entire time they were on the boat and third man who had died shortly after his recue. John understood how lucky they were, not only that they had all survived in the water but that they had survived out of it as well.

"John," Elizabeth said sitting up straight again and gesturing ahead of them. The woman they had met below decks was there, the one who had lost her children. Sally and Jeremy were both with her the two children bundled up in blankets as a steward gave them a hot drink to warm them. John smiled slightly; it was good to know that they had made it, that after Elizabeth had left them in the stairwell they had gotten to the boat deck and onto a lifeboat. The woman spotted John and Elizabeth across the deck and nodded her head gratefully; she too relieved to see that the people who had helped her were alive. She had probably assumed the worst after both John and Elizabeth were washed down the corridor by the flood of water.

* * *

It had taken Carson a few minutes to convince the steward at the bottom of the stairs that he was in fact a first class passenger. Once the man had seen the expensive suit he was wearing, one that had probably been ruined by the water, he had let him pass. He was now searching the upper deck for his wife, there were a lot more first class passengers from the Titanic than third class which was odd considering that aboard the Titanic there had been a lot more third class. He knew from John and the others though that third class passengers had been kept below decks while the crew had started loading first class passengers into the boats.

It was sad to think that all of the people around him now had been given more of a chance to live simply because they had more money. So many people must have died still trapped below decks because no one had bothered to go and get them out. There were more men up here as well, most were still women but more first class men had survived than third class. He still had to wonder how many of the people here had lost husbands, fathers, sons or brothers.

He finally found his wife; she was sitting with Rodney, a coat that he didn't recognise covering her shoulders. She looked like she'd been crying at some point and Carson wished he'd been able to stay with her, that he hadn't had to lie to her and leave her aboard the lifeboat. He was relieved to see her, even though he'd known she was on one of the boats, that there was no reason for her not be safe it was still a relief to see her, to be sure she was okay. He walked over to where she was and he was almost standing right in front of her when she finally looked up and saw him.

She froze completely and Rodney noticed the sudden change turning to see him as well. Carson closed the rest of the distance between them and Laura stood up to throw her arms around him. The blanket than had probably been partly responsible for the fact that he hadn't died after being pulled out of the water fell to the floor as he caught her in his arms holding her as tightly as his tired body would let him.

"I was looking for you, I couldn't find you," Laura whispered against his neck and then stepped back. "You're soaked."

"I was one of the few people they rescued from the water," Carson informed her and she grabbed him again, realising just how close she had come to losing him and the thought scared Carson as much as it obviously scared her.

"You stupid man, why did you lie to me?" she questioned though he guessed she already knew the answer.

"It doesn't matter now," Carson told her. "We both made it and if you hadn't got on that lifeboat we might not have."

Laura nodded as she stepped back allowing Rodney a few moments to hug him and berate him for nearly getting himself killed. Once Rodney was just about done with his rant she put an arm around him again and he was as keen to have that contact with her as she was.

"Have you seen Elizabeth anywhere, we haven't been able to find her either?" she asked him and Carson hesitated before answering. While they'd been aboard the lifeboat Elizabeth had told him about everything that had happened, about Simon chasing her with a gun among other things. Right now Simon had no idea if Elizabeth was even alive, come to think of it they had no idea if Simon was alive either, but Carson wasn't sure that Elizabeth wanted people to know yet.

"She's on the lower deck with John," he told her after a moment. He knew Elizabeth well enough to be sure she'd want Laura to know she was okay and Laura wouldn't say anything to anyone else, neither would Rodney. "They were both pulled out of the water as well."

"Is she alright?" Rodney questioned and Carson shrugged.

"As alright as she can get after spending so long in the freezing water, any longer and none of us would have made it," Carson replied feeling Laura tighten her hold on him.

"How many people did they rescue from the water?" she questioned.

"Eight but one died afterwards," he told her.

"I still can't believe all of this happened," Rodney said shaking his head and looking around at the people who were trying to pull themselves together, most of them had lost someone that day, some of them had lost whole families to the water. Carson was glad he wasn't one of them.

* * *

They'd managed to get their hands on some dry clothes and their own had been taken away to be dried and then returned to them. Despite that, the cold still hadn't gone away, it felt like it was inside her now, a part of her and she hoped it was a feeling that would eventually be gone. They hadn't had chance to sleep yet and Elizabeth was so exhausted she daren't close here eyes for fear she would just fall asleep where she sat. John and Ronon had gone to get them all something to eat, the Carpathia had prepared hot meals for everyone, even the third class passengers were being well take care of after everything that had happened to them.

"If you hadn't met John do you think you would have gone through with it?" Teyla asked her, with the two men queuing up for food Elizabeth and Teyla had the chance to talk properly for the first time.

"I don't know, there was never a question in my mind that a month from now I'd be marrying Simon but whether or not that would have changed nearer the time I don't know," Elizabeth replied thinking carefully about her answer. She had never loved Simon and he had never loved really loved her. He would have done anything to please her but it wasn't out of love, it was something else, like keeping an employee happy so that they would do their job.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter now," Teyla said smiling. "You did meet John and now you're down here with us."

"I don't consider that a bad thing," Elizabeth replied with a smile of her own. The people around her had very little, some of them probably had nothing anymore having lost it all aboard the Titanic but she'd seen herself that not having everything that money could buy didn't mean you had to be unhappy. These people were different now, many of them had lost people, loved ones as well as their possessions but she knew most of them would land on their feet. Already they'd started banding together, helping each other to get through this and she was sure that up in first class it wouldn't be the same. There were exceptions, there were always exceptions but the majority of first class passengers would mourn their own losses, deal with everything themselves. Some of them would never recover from this, they didn't know how to deal with this kind of loss, it was possible some of them had lost too much aboard the Titanic to ever fully recover. They didn't know how to live with little, or even just enough to get by, she didn't doubt that some people would be completely destroyed by this despite surviving the disaster itself.

As her eyes scanned the deck she caught sight of someone coming down the stairs from the upper deck and after a moment she realised it was Simon. She turned around reaching for the blanket that was still around her shoulders and pulling it up over her head to hide. Teyla saw her reaction and looked behind her for the source of it picking Simon out easily.

"That is him?" she questioned and Elizabeth nodded moving the blanket so that it would hide her face as Simon walked around the deck.

Teyla moved so that she could watch Simon over Elizabeth's shoulder, her eyes subtly following him as he searched for Elizabeth among the survivors. Elizabeth hoped that John didn't come back while Simon was still there, he'd recognise John just as easily as Elizabeth. She could hear footsteps right behind her and she knew it was Simon; she froze in place, not even daring to breathe until he moved away again.

"He is leaving," Teyla stated and Elizabeth risked a look, turning her head slowly to where he was walking back up the stairs. He reached the top and she saw her mother standing there, looking at Simon who shook his head. Elizabeth's heart sank as she watched her mother walk away with Simon, she was doing the right thing though, she knew she was. She said a silent goodbye to them and to that life; at least for now she was walking away from it all.

"You two alright?" Ronon questioned sitting down next to Teyla and giving her the plate of food he'd brought for her. He looked strangely at Elizabeth who was still hiding beneath her blanket and she lowered it back to her shoulders as John took a seat next to her.

"We are fine," Teyla replied as she ate her food and John gave Elizabeth hers. She offered him a small smile in return as she ate, the hot food helping a little with the cold feeling that still wouldn't leave her. John was looking at her, he could tell something was up but she didn't want to talk about it at that moment and he obviously knew that too. Instead she leaned closer to him relaxing against him so that he'd know that what was bothering her had nothing to do with him.

"After this, I think I'm gonna sleep until we reach New York," Ronon said, Teyla was nodding her agreement next to him.

"Actually, I think I'm going to find out what their plans are for sleeping arrangements," Teyla stated and then stood up taking her food with her. "You coming Ronon?"

Ronon stood up and followed her complaining about wanting to sit down and eat not carry his meal all over the ship with him. Elizabeth smiled as they left, in a strange way Ronon reminded her of Laura, they were both stubborn, fiery, outspoken people, there was never a dull moment with them around. She wondered if Carson had been able to find her, she knew he'd let her know that she was alive but she hoped word didn't get to Simon and her mother, not yet anyway. Right now they were probably assuming the worst and that left her with a break from them, one day she'd have to tell them, her mother at least, that she was alive but for now she preferred they didn't know.

"Are you okay?" John asked her and after a moment she shook her head.

"No, but I will be," she replied and reached a hand up to his neck, kissing him lightly. It was the first time they'd been alone, well semi alone if you included the hundreds of people around them, since long before the Titanic had sunk. She wanted nothing more than to curl up with him and sleep; Ronon's idea of sleeping for the next few days was incredibly appealing.

"Hurry up and eat, I want to sleep," she ordered with a smile and he kissed her again.

"Yes ma'am," he replied in amusement.

* * *

They had finally arrived in New York, the Carpathia was in the docks and Elizabeth could tell straight away that news of the Titanic had already reached the press. Looking over the railing of the ship she could see swarms of reporters everywhere, all of them eager to get the details of the story. Elizabeth knew she didn't want to have to face them but she also knew the only way she was getting out of here was by going through them.

"Well, we made it," Ronon stated looking down at the people gathered there.

"It's just a shame we're on the wrong ship," John added, they should have arrived aboard the Titanic, instead they had sailed in on the Carpathia, many of the people they'd left London with gone now.

"We'd better get moving, we can't hide here forever," Teyla said and the four of them started moving, heading for the ramp that led off the ship and into the docks below. They'd barely reached the bottom before they were swarmed, questions being thrown at them from every direction.

"Were you aboard the Titanic?"

"How many people were killed?"

"Did you lose any members of your family?"

"Where did the ship sink?"

"What did you see?"

"How do you feel about surviving this disaster?"

They ignored all the questions; John's arm was around Elizabeth helping to pull her through the crowd. He and Ronon were keeping the reporters back as they moved, pulling Teyla and Elizabeth behind them. The reporters didn't give up easily, they kept asking questions, trying to stop them and get answers all the way to the exit and around them other passengers were getting the same treatment. Some people were stopping and talking to the reporters, others were just trying to get away. As if going through the Titanic sinking hadn't been enough they were now being forced to relive it all. The reporters disappeared one after another until they reached the exit and they all went back to find more passengers to interrogate.

"Elizabeth," a voice called and she felt dread run through her as she recognised it. She turned back to see Simon and her mother walking over to them. She moved closer to John gripping his hand in hers as she watched them approaching. Ronon moved Teyla behind him and stepped closer to them as well, he knew Simon had chased them through the Titanic with a gun. In fact, other than when she'd spotted him on the deck of the Carpathia the last time Elizabeth had seen Simon was when he'd been shooting at her.

"You're alive," her mother said as she and Simon came to a stop in front of them.

"We thought you were dead," Simon stated as he tried to step closer to her but Elizabeth took a step backward from him and he stopped again.

"Why didn't you come and find us, let us know you were alright?" her mother questioned and for the first time in a while Elizabeth thought her mother might actually have been concerned about her. After months of allowing Elizabeth to be miserable just to secure her own future her mother seemed to have actually been concerned for her.

"I didn't want you to know," Elizabeth replied honestly. Her mother looked surprised, her eyes darting to the people she was with and finally landing on John looking over him with an air of superiority, like she was looking at a bug.

"How can you say something like that, I'm your mother and you were willing to let me think you were dead?" her mother said angrily, outraged by the daughter she had never truly known. "This whole affair has been ridiculous Elizabeth and these people have obviously been a bad influence on you."

"No mother, they're the best thing that's happened to me," she replied and Simon stepped forward reaching for her arm. Elizabeth backed off again, keeping her face calm but gripping John's hand tighter, she was grateful to him for keeping quiet. She was sure he wanted to say something, do something but interference from him would only have made things worse, made this harder for her.

"Stop this nonsense Elizabeth, now come on," Simon said trying to reach for her once again.

"No," she told him firmly looking both at him and at her mother. Behind them she could see Carson, Laura and Rodney; all three of them were watching the scene quietly from the background. "I'm through being your prisoner, I never wanted this marriage and you both knew it. You were happy to make me go through with it anyway, making me feel bad that my heart wasn't in it. I'm living my own life now, making my own decisions and I choose to walk away from you."

Simon looked angry but Elizabeth couldn't bring herself to care, he wouldn't do anything stupid with so many people around. Her mother just looked shocked, Elizabeth had talked back before but never like this, in the end she had always backed down and let her mother win, She was done with that though, she was tired of battling through her days and wishing each one would end just so she could do it all again the next day.

"And mother," she added. "I'd stay away from Simon if I were you; he spent the better part of fifteen minutes chasing me through the Titanic with a gun."

She didn't bother waiting to see their reactions; instead she turned around to leave pulling John along with her. Ronon and Teyla followed along behind and Elizabeth didn't even look back when she heard her mother call after her. A different voice called her then and she stopped to wait for Laura and the others. Laura hugged her as she reached her and Elizabeth smiled at the warm greeting she could always count on from her friend.

"I've been telling you to do that for ages," Laura stated with a grin.

"Where are you all going now?" Carson asked and John shrugged.

"No idea," he told them with a smile.

"Well there's room for you at our place for as long as you want it, at the very least you can come and have dinner with us," Carson said and Laura nodded.

"The house is too big for just us anyway, there's about a hundred rooms there that I don't think I've ever even been in and if you get fed up with us there's always Rodney's place," she stated.

"What?" Rodney exclaimed. "Okay first of all, don't exaggerate there isn't even a hundred rooms in your house, it's more like twenty five and secondly, don't volunteer my house as a shelter for the homeless."

"Rodney!" Carson chastised and Elizabeth just laughed at him, always blunt but that was just his way and she wouldn't want to change him. She had a feeling John and Ronon might need some time to get used to him though. Everyone finally agreed to go for dinner before the reporters could find them again and Elizabeth wondered what their lives would be like now. The Titanic had changed everything, it had changed all of them and she knew that nothing was ever going to be the same.

THE END

**There were 2,223 people aboard the Titanic, over 1500 of them went into the water when the ship sank and of those just 6 were rescued, only 706 passengers survived. In total 1517 people lost their lives that night many of them third class and crew. May they not be forgotten.**

**Authors Note (Hannah554): Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed the story. Titanic was a great movie and I'm glad I got the chance to sparkify it. **


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